Full Text

Stephanie Salter (left), the San Francisco Chronicle writer whose column was removed from the paper’s editorial pages, speaks to people after her workshop “Climate of Fear” at Saturday’s East Bay Sanctuary conference.

News

A pediatrician by trade, Dr. Helen Caldicott’s call to save the children is a fight against militarism.

Children are maimed and dead in Afghanistan due to the detonation of unexploded bombs, and 500,000 Iraqi children have died over the last decade because they lack clean water and medications due to U.S. sanctions on their country, the Nobel Peace Prize winner said in a keynote address Saturday at a conference marking the 20-year anniversary of Berkeley-based East Bay Sanctuary Covenant.

“A child is a child is a child; all life is sacred,” Caldicott said.

The daylong event, whose theme was “To Speak the Truth in a Time of Terror,” opened with music by the La Pena Community Chorus and included a dozen workshops. It drew about 300 people to the First Congregational Church in Oakland.

At times during her address, Caldicott sounded more preacher than physician.

“We have to learn to stop killing; the Bible says, ‘Thou shalt not kill,’” she said, gesturing to the cross behind her. “What did (Jesus) preach? Love thine enemies. Do good to those who hate you.”

Caldicott jumped from description of one evil to the next – SUVs and the waste of natural resources, global warming, militarization of space, the innocent killed in Afghanistan and New York City, the impending war in Iraq.

“It’s God’s earth and God’s creation. We are united by humanity,” she said.

Of the 18-year-old Americans who fought the war in Afghanistan she said: “There were young men almost eight miles up dropping boxes of bombs. They couldn’t see what was under the bombs... They didn’t smell the scent of blood.”

The evil she described has not cowed Caldicott; it fuels her determination to make change. Having founded Physicians for Social Responsibility in 1977, Caldicott has now put together the Nuclear Policy Research Institute, whose goal is to use the mass media to place the dangers of militarism squarely before the American people. She urged people in the audience to find their own ways to combat the arms race and environmental degradation.

Workshops following the keynote speech also presented daunting problems and explored answers: resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; organizing in immigrant communities; promoting human rights in Guatemala; pressuring the United States to end sanctions against Haiti to allow its self determination.

Stephanie Salter, a former San Francisco Chronicle columnist who was removed from the paper’s editorial pages because she “didn’t fit in,” led a workshop with Paul Burks, a United Methodist minister.

Salter said she was told her column “did not resonate with upper management.” In response to her removal – she has a union job and won’t be fired, but was moved to the Sunday Insight section – she received more than some 1,600 e-mails, two rallies were held and supporters took out an ad in the Bay Guardian. “All that fell on deaf ears,” Salter said.

While she was unable to get back her column on the editorial pages, Salter said the pressure had some effect. Ruth Rosen, like Salter a woman over 50 with left-leaning ideas, will take Salter’s place on The Chronicle’s editorial pages next month.

“I’ll be replaced by someone who looks like me,” Salter said.

The workshop did not focus so much on the journalist’s personal plight as on the more general problems of the media, where fewer and fewer corporations own more and more diverse media outlets.

One result is a “dumbing down” of newspapers, Salter said, noting, for example, that after 9/11 The Chronicle put its resources into stories such as people’s “nesting” reaction to the event and the increased time they spent at the gym.

Why? It’s not some conspiracy to keep Americans in the dark, she said. The answer is less complex: “They’re committed to making money. That’s where the vision stops. The product is almost of no importance to the profit seekers.”

Still, she argued that there is hope. Some stories do get out in mainstream media, such as in the New Yorker. And there’s KPFA radio and the Internet, especially www.commondreams.org, Salter said, further suggesting that those who organize rallies need to learn to get their messages out more clearly. “Speakers need to be few and terrific,” she said.

The event closed with a call for people to take action, including attending the following events:

• A weekly vigil sponsored by the Ecumenical Peace Institute at the Oakland Federal Building at 13th Street and Clay to end the sanctions on Iraq: Tuesdaysll 12-1 p.m.

• A march and rally against racism and war in Iraq: Justin Herman Plaza, 11 a.m. Oct. 26; 415-821-6545

How can you grow your expenses and expenditures and decrease your income? Well, the city of Berkeley and in particular the City Council thinks there are unending depths to the city’s financial coffers even with continued projected budget deficits. The council had no problem with a recent 28 percent increase in city employee salaries and continued expenditures on dozens of special studies such as the unearthing of Strawberry Creek.

Then there is the mismanagement of resources. Statistically speaking, Berkeley has almost 50 percent more employees of any city its size in California (about 1,600 vs. 1,000) and the same number of commissions as New York City. As far as I know there is no auditing function for departments, no progressive disciplinary treatment for employees, no centralized purchasing for all departments to get the best prices. There is a no layoff policy – how can you justify payrolls with no revenue?

The council refuses to outsource many services. Outsourcing has been shown by other cities to be more efficient use of resources, but you can’t do that because it’s politically incorrect. And then there are all the boycotts on goods and services the city can’t purchase. It’s almost to the point the city can’t buy gas for its own vehicles. All these areas must cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars in waste.

But must I go on? Let’s look at the council. Almost all of the council folks do not have jobs, don’t have kids and live out of a political ideology rather than identification with the regular folks like me who live here, work here, pay taxes, have kids in public school and actually want city services to improve. Let’s just ask this one question – does the city actually exist as a adjunct to the council’s special political and doctrinaire interests or is it actually here to provide services for the citizens of Berkeley?

Remember this when you go to the polls in November and look carefully at who you elect because things are going to get a lot worse in Berkeley in the next two years as the city must deal with the realities of less money and astronomical deficits.

Journalist Suzan Hagstrom will speak on her nonfiction book, which delves into the Holocaust.

644-3635

“A Language Older Than Words”

7 p.m.

2350 San Pablo Ave. near Dwight Way

An evening with author Derrick Jensen, with music by Andrea Pritchett.

548-2220

$6-$10/ Sliding scale.

Wednesday, Oct. 23

An evening with Simon Winchester

7 p.m.

Sibley Auditorium, Bechtel Engineering Center, UC Berkeley

Join the author of bestsellers “The Map That Changed the World” and “The Professor and the Madman”, along with Don George, global travel editor for Lonely Planet Publications, for an evening of lively conversations.

Cal wide receiver Jonathon Makonnen was a picture of triumph as the clock wound down at the end of Cal’s 17-12 win over UCLA on Saturday night: standing in the end zone, ball in hand, arms raised in victory.

So what if he was in his own end zone?

Makonnen’s catch of quarterback Kyle Boller’s 35-yard backwards heave ran off the final five seconds of the game, a game that will be remembered for Cal’s defensive prowess and UCLA’s frustration. It was fitting that the Cal offense would take a safety to protect a lead the defense had handed them on a silver platter.

The Bears (5-3 overall, 2-2 Pac-10) won their homecoming game at Memorial Stadium in front of a crowd of 46,697 despite netting just 18 offensive yards in the second half. They won despite having two punt attempts blocked in the fourth quarter, both giving the Bruins the ball inside the Cal 20-yard line. And they won despite Boller having his worst statistical game of the season.

“Our whole defense should be nominated for Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Week,” Cal head coach Jeff Tedford said after the game. “They played phenomenally. We talk all the time about giving a team effort, but the defense won that game for us.”

The Bears made two huge stands in the fourth quarter, both after the Bruins blocked Tyler Fredrickson punts. The first was blocked by UCLA linebacker Marcus Reese and recovered on the 3-yard line, and a pass interference call moved it to the 2. But UCLA head coach Bob Toledo showed why many UCLA supporters have been calling for his head, calling two trick plays when most teams would have gone straight ahead.

On first down, tailback Tyler Ebell took a pitch and reversed his field, with Cal linebacker Calvin Hosey staying home to drop him for a five-yard loss. Then on second down, quarterback John Sciarra, the Bruins’ third signal-caller of the game, pitched to defensive back Matt Ware, who then pitched to Ebell for three yards. A dropped pass by wideout Craig Bragg on third down forced a chip-shot field-goal attempt, and Cal defensive end Jamal Cherry got a huge paw up far enough to block the Chris Griffith kick, sending UCLA (4-3, 1-2) away with no points at all.

“I was standing there in awe,” Fredrickson said of his defense’s effort. “I couldn’t take my hand away from my mouth. It was just amazing.”

Cal’s punt blocking broke down again with less than three minutes remaining, as Ware got through to smother Fredrickson’s kick. UCLA took over at the 20, but defensive end Tom Canada jarred the ball loose from Sciarra on fourth down to kill the threat. All the Bears had to do was run the ball three times, then pull off the play they call “Right Safety Gap Safety,” which they practice every Friday, although from just 20 yards out instead of 36. Boller, who broke the school touchdown pass record with a 24-yarder to tight end Tom Swoboda in the first half, made his best throw of the day right into Makonnen’s waiting hands.

Boller and the Bears offense had the defense to thank for the winning touchdown as well. Defensive end Tully Banta-Cain forced a Sciarra fumble that tackle Lorenzo Alexander dove on at the UCLA 25, and tailback Joe Igber converted the opportunity with a four-yard touchdown run, juking UCLA linebacker Spencer Havner out of his shoes on the way to the end zone.

The Cal offense was just horrible in the second half, failing to get a first down on six of eight drives. But unlike most of Cal’s games this season, it was the defense carrying the load instead of the offense trying to outgun the opposition.

“We always talk about giving a team effort, but our offense just wasn’t quite there today,” said Boller, who was just 13-for-30 for 133 yards. “But our defense carried us through it.”

The Bears racked up seven sacks and 13 tackles for loss in the game, knocking out two Bruin quarterbacks in the process. Senior Cory Paus’ college career likely came to an end when defensive end Josh Gustaveson landed on his ankle, breaking it and sending the starter out on a stretcher in the third quarter. Backup Drew Olson, a true freshman from Piedmont High, sprained his throwing shoulder soon after, and Sciarra was the last man standing for UCLA. He completed just one of seven passes and threw the game’s only interception, a tipped pass that floated right into Cal cornerback James Bethea’s hands between UCLA’s punt blocks.

“When you travel with a 60-man roster, you can’t have four quarterbacks,” Toledo moaned. “How do you prepare for that? You go through spring practice and get some drills, but you can’t really prepare three quarterbacks. Nobody in America does that.”

The Bruins still had tailback Tyler Ebell, however. Ebell, a redshirt freshman, ran for 102 yards and his team’s only touchdown, an 11-yard scamper that tied the score at 10-10 just after halftime. Ebell had success running up the gut for most of the game, making Toledo’s play-calling on the goal line even more bizarre. But all credit goes to the Cal defense, which simply wouldn’t give up a game that looked lost at least twice.

“We love those situations as a defense,” Banta-Cain said. “That’s when you know you have to step up and make a play to win the game.”

Notes: Saturday’s crowd was the biggest at Memorial Stadium since 53,000 fans showed up for the Cal-UCLA game in 2000... The Bears forced three turnovers and committed none, improving their turnover margin to plus-16 on the season, best in the Pac-10...Cherry’s field-goal block was the Bears’ first of the season... Both teams set season lows for offensive yards.

A California Department of Education official said Friday that Berkeley’s Rosa Parks Elementary School has a good shot at avoiding large-scale reform next year, despite triggering a federal law on Thursday that requires an overhaul of schools that repeatedly fall short on standardized tests.

“They have a very good basis for an appeal,” said Maria Reyes of the Department of Education’s Title I Policy and Partnerships Office, which administers the federal law in California.

The state released 2001-2002 scores for its Academic Performance Index (API) standardized testing system Thursday, and Rosa Parks performed well on the whole. The school improved its overall score more than any other school in Berkeley and far exceeded a school-specific improvement goal set by the state.

But California requires schools like Rosa Parks to meet targets not only for the student body as a whole, but for numerically-significant racial groups and for socio-economically disadvantaged students.

The school met growth targets for African-American and Latino students, but fell one point short in the socio-economically disadvantaged category.

Technically, the one-point shortfall should move Rosa Parks one step ahead in the “program improvement” process laid out in President Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” legislation signed in January.

Under the law, which requires an overhaul if schools don’t make “adequate yearly progress” on standardized testing, the Berkeley Unified School District would have to implement one of six reforms at Rosa Parks next year. The options include replacing relevant staff, putting a new curriculum in place, decreasing the principal’s authority, appointing an outside expert to advise the school on its progress, extending the school year or school day or restructuring the school’s internal organization.

But Reyes, of the Department of Education, said the law allows districts to appeal to the state and, if successful, get out of the program improvement process. She said Rosa Parks’s strong overall API performance in the 1999-2000 and 2001-2002 school years should allow the school to make a strong case.

“My recommendation is that they take a look at this and seriously consider an appeal to exit (the program),” she said.

Berkeley’s Associate Superintendent of Educational Services Chris Lim said Thursday that the district will pursue an appeal.

Rosa Parks principal Shirley Herrera, who just took the helm this year, said the testing system and the negative publicity it generates are unfair.

“I believe the state needs to re-evaluate schools like ours,” she said. “The school is on its way to doing really well.”

Herrera said a continuous turnover in leadership has harmed the school, but touted a new system of twice-a-month meetings between teachers.

“Teachers, as a profession, rarely have time to talk to each other,” she said. “It really makes a big difference.”

Robin Cherin, parent of a fourth-grader at Rosa Parks, said she has been pleased with the school and argued that a shake-up under “No Child Left Behind” would be harmful.

“I think we have a really great staff,” she said. “It would be a real disservice to shake it up to fit someone’s cookie-cutter (approach to reform).”

The API combines test results from a nationwide test, the SAT-9, and the California Standards Test in English Language Arts, tailored to California-specific curriculum tests. Next year, the state will add other exams in math, history and science to the API. The state’s high school exit exam will also be part of the index.

In order to meet its growth target, a school must improve its API score by 5 percent of the difference between its previous score and the state benchmark of 800. The API test is scored on a scale of 200 to1000.

In 1999-2000 Rosa Parks improved its API score by 92 points, jumping from 522 to 614, and far exceeding the state growth target of a 14-point hike.

In 2000-2001, Rosa Parks made no improvement, falling short of a growth target of nine additional points. In 2001-2002, as revealed Thursday, Rosa Parks upped its score by 49 points for a total of 672, far exceeding a second nine-point target.

One of the enduring attractions of our city is our passionate devotion to an endlessly evolving set of issues. It’s fertile ground for the many Berkeley myths that spring up to explain why and how things happen in town, and often to reinforce a particular political view. These stories can be helpful, they can be amusing, and at times they are harmful. One that’s particularly damaging is the myth that Berkeley is run by and for developers who are somehow able to manipulate the zoning rules, the professional planning staff, the hard-working citizens on boards and commissions, and council members. This anti-government myth is in part responsible for Measure P, the height initiative, on the November ballot.

The rhetoric of this myth has damaged staff morale and cast a shadow on the work of volunteers on boards and commissions. It calls into question the integrity of council members, who are accused of being “in the pockets” of developers when they support controversial projects. It’s insidious, difficult to counter, and creates unwarranted cynicism. It is not the truth.

Consider the way things really work: Developers who want to build even a moderate-size project in Berkeley go through a long process that includes multiple assessments by city staff and two or more boards and commissions, public hearings, and not infrequently, a hearing and decision by the council. The process can take several years. One can be sure that if developers really ran the city, the process would be much simpler, with less public input and far speedier.

Berkeley will be best served by encouraging moderate to high-density developments on streets that are or can be well served by transit. We need to ensure that there are places in Berkeley where the creative energy of the 21st century can be expressed in our architecture. Our downtown needs graceful, moderately tall buildings to give it a sense of place and importance and to ensure a lively atmosphere. Measure P would lower height limits on our major corridors and prevent the development of a lively downtown that meets the needs of today. For all of these reasons, it’s important to recognize the false myths about development in our town and to vote no on Measure P.

The St. Mary’s High football team kicked off their Bay Shore Athletic League season with a 37-14 stomping of Kennedy (Richmond) High on Saturday, getting three rushing touchdowns from Fred Hives in their easiest win of the year.

Hives ran for a game-high 87 yards and Steve Murphy scored touchdowns on a 55-yard screen pass and a 23-yard run. Murphy started the game at tailback, giving way to sophomore Scott Tully at quarterback for the first time this season. Murphy was nursing a thigh bruise suffered against Oakland Tech High last weekend.

St. Mary’s (2-3-1 overall, 1-0 BSAL) dominated the game until the final minutes, taking a 37-0 lead into the fourth quarter before fatigue and turnovers led to two Kennedy (0-6, 0-1) touchdowns. Tully threw for 135 yards, all in the first half, on 5-of-11 passing, making a case for head coach Jay Lawson to leave the versatile Murphy at tailback for the rest of the season.

Hives, switching between fullback and tailback, scored on runs of four and five yards in the first quarter to give St. Mary’s a 14-0 lead. On St. Mary’s first drive of the second quarter Murphy took a screen pass from Tully and got some nice downfield blocks, going 55 yards untouched down the left sideline. The Panthers finished the first half with a safety, thanks to a punt snap over Miles head that ended up in the end zone, where St. Mary’s defensive end Nick Osborn dragged Miles to the ground. Osborn had 2.5 sacks in the game and harrassed Miles on nearly every passing play.

Both St. Mary’s touchdowns in the second half came after Kennedy turnovers. Middle linebacker Matt Hurley picked off a pass and returned it to the 20-yard line. Four plays later Hives scored on a two-yard plunge to open the second-half scoring. Kennedy’s Joe Jones fumbled on the next play from scrimmage, and the Panthers needed just two plays to score their final touchdown, with Murphy juking his way to a 23-yard score.

Tully’s only interception of the game came with five minutes left in the fourth quarter, with Kennedy’s Mike Dunbar snagging the ball near midfield and fumbling it right into teammate Joe Jones’ hands. Jones returned the ball to the St. Mary’s 10-yard line, and quarterback Aaron Miles scored on a naked bootleg for Kennedy’s first score of the game.

Hives fumbled on the next St. Mary’s drive and Miles threw to Antonio Norman for gains of 18 and 22 yards, the latter for a touchdown. Kennedy’s Jamahl Mackey was ejected for spearing a player on the ground on the ensuing kickoff.

Berkeley has a dirty and smelly secret. The roughly 60-year-old city animal shelter, tucked from public view at Second and Addison streets, is so dilapidated that shelter volunteers say conditions drive away folks looking for new pets.

“I’ve seen kids crying when they left,” said Linda McCormick, founder of Fix Our Ferals, a rescue program for wild cats.

On Nov. 5, Berkeley voters will decide whether to approve a bond measure, authorizing $7.2 million to build a new animal shelter. Property owners will be asked to pay, on average, about $12 per year for 30 years to finance the new facility.

Leading a tour through corridors of howling dogs, shelter volunteer Jill Posener pointed out the facility’s shortcomings.

“The sewage system is broken,” she said pointing at fecal remains in drainage gutters next to the cages. “Who is going to adopt a dog that has sh__ all over its own feet.”

Other problems are just as obvious. Cages have broken locks that make it difficult for interested adopters to see the animals, barriers between dogs are so low that the animals can easily spread diseases, and space is so limited that wild animals such as chickens or lizards are often kept in cages in the shelter’s office.

A simple renovation of the facility won’t work, Posener said. At 12,000 square feet the entire property is nearly half the size of new shelters in San Francisco and Oakland and is incapable of providing facilities that would welcome adopters and make life more bearable for the animals.

Posener said five essential upgrades are needed that are not possible at the current shelter: An isolation area for sick animals so that they do not infect other animals, a holding pen for wildlife, an off-leash dog area so dogs can frequently leave their cages to work off energy, a “get-acquainted” space for potential adopters to have room to interact with the animals, and an in-house clinic to provide immediate medical care to sick animals.

According to McCormick, the city pays for a veterinarian to visit the shelter every week. If an animal gets sick when medical care is not available, the disease is easily spread to other animals.

The measure has broad support and was put on the ballot by a unanimous vote of the City Council.

Although there is no organized opposition to the measure, voter approval is not guaranteed. A two-thirds majority is required for passage, and Posener acknowledged that some residents were likely to oppose it as an unnecessary tax hike.

Also, a new shelter site has not yet been found. Posener insisted there were several suitable sites in the industrial area of west Berkeley near Gilman Street, and that shelter supporters can’t pursue a new location until the measure is passed.

Despite building limitations, volunteers say Berkeley’s shelter has come a long way in recent years. Since Berkeley’s police department relinquished control of the shelter and turned it over to the city in 2000, programs have been initiated to reduce the number of shelter deaths.

According to shelter records, in 1998, 783 animals were put to death. Last year 123 were killed. The sharp decline was not achieved by more adoptions, but through partnerships with rescue operations that take animals to different, more desirable shelters or return them to the wild.

Adoptions won’t increase until the city builds a facility that people will be comfortable visiting, Posener said.

“We’ve begun to make a real difference with philosophy and policies, but now we need a building that reflects that commitment,” said Posener.

Opposition to Proposition P, the height initiative, is being organized by businessmen like developer Patrick Kennedy with a vested interest in unlimited building heights. Support for Proposition P is grassroots citizen-based and includes the Council of Neighborhood Associations and Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association.

With lots of money behind the opposition, many politicians have jumped on the defeat of Proposition P bandwagon, claiming that it would limit the construction of housing. However, this is not true. Nowhere in the initiative does it restrict the production of housing. On the contrary, it seeks to preserve neighborhoods by preserving the quality of life there. Huge out-of-scale buildings have been proposed in west Berkeley and throughout Berkeley, such that five-story towers would be built next to modest single-story houses. Some years ago, permits for such constructions would have been modified or denied by the regulating agencies. But now with the developer based smart growth movement, such considerations have been cast aside in favor of upward expansion. But the goal of upward expansion in downtown areas was supposed to be the maintenance of smaller scale surrounding areas on the outer edges of cities and in rural areas. Not any more. Capitalism mandates continual expansion, such that even in the outlying areas larger, more intrusive structures are being built.

The result of all this building is increased traffic congestion, since the developers fail to increase parking and cities cannot afford to increase public transit. The quality of life in the city continues take a backseat to economic expansion. Proposition P is a citizen attempt to come up against big money and say no to steamrolling our neighborhoods and endless urbanization in every single corner of Berkeley.

“We’ve been talking about adding some excitement and creating chances,” said Cal head coach Kevin Boyd. “The goals will come. The other thing that’s a factor is that we’re the healthiest we’ve been so far this year, particularly in our frontline.”

All-American senior forward Laura Schott ignited Cal’s offense with her second goal in the last two games in the 23rd minute. Junior midfielder Kim Yokers served a long pass into the box and Schott got her head on the ball and looped it over Oregon State goalkeeper Jo Fletcher.

In the 64th minute, freshman forward Tracy Hamm gave the Bears a 2-0 margin when she ran onto a through ball from junior defender Amy Willison and scored from 15 yards for her eighth goal of the year. The score later proved to be her team-leading third game-winning goal.

Oregon State’s leading scorer, Courtney Carter, cut Cal’s lead to 2-1 with a score in the 74th minute from 12 yards out to the far post. Stacey Mescher got the assist on Carter’s sixth goal of the season.

On the ensuing kickoff, Schott found freshman forward Dania Cabello, who drilled an insurance goal from 18 yards.

After starting the weekend with no points, Schott now has six points from two goals and two assists.

Fletcher grabbed seven saves for the Beavers, while Post had four for the Bears.

• LOS ANGELES – The Cal men’s soccer team, ranked No. 13 by Soccer America, took its first Pac-10 loss of the season with a 2-1 loss to No. 6 UCLA (Soccer America) Sunday afternoon at Frank. W. Marshall Field. The defeat ended the Bears’ nine-game winning streak, the most consecutive wins in the all-time Cal record book.

The Golden Bears fell to 10-3-1 (3-1 Pac-10) as the Bruins improved to 8-1-2 (3-0 Pac-10).

First-half goals by Aaron Lopez and Matt Taylor gave the Bruins the edge over the Golden Bears. UCLA’s Aaron Lopez ended a scoreless tie in the 21st minute. Bruin defender Scot Thompson got the play started with a close-range shot that was saved by Cal goalkeeper Josh Saunders, but the rebound went to Lopez, who finished for his first goal of the season.

The Golden Bears broke through in the 40th minute when an Angel Quintero pass found Carl Acosta in front of the goal. Acosta slammed a shot past into the right corner of the net for his fifth goal of the year.

The Bruins came back minutes later on a breakaway in the 44th minute. A Tim Pierce pass to Matt Taylor on the left side resulted in the game-winner for Taylor, his fifth goal and second game-winner of the year. The Bears were unable to come up with an equalizer in the second half.

In her eight years on the Berkeley City Council, Polly Armstrong has long argued that council’s time and energy was better spent dealing with “police and potholes,” not the international issues raised by colleagues.

The current political climate, though, has caused Armstrong to rethink her stance. Twice in the past month, she not only voted for, but played an active role in, the passage of city resolutions targeting national issues.

“This time in American history feels to me like a time when I can feel very strong that, by taking the stand I’m taking, I am representing my constituents,” said Armstrong. “This is my country moving in a direction that my world doesn’t approve of.”

Armstrong, among City Council’s moderate faction, bridged the contentious divide with the progressive group over a city resolution condemning the federal Patriot Act. Circumventing potential debate, Armstrong helped broker a compromise that criticized the legislation as a violation of civil rights, to the satisfaction of every council member. The resolution passed unanimously Sept. 10.

More recently, Armstrong and fellow moderate Councilmember Miriam Hawley introduced an agenda item to support a failed Congressional resolution calling for the United States to work through the United Nations before using military action in Iraq. Councilmembers Linda Maio and Maudelle Shirek proposed a similar resolution. Council passed its anti-war resolution Oct. 8.

“Our country is struggling with how to deal with a rogue country that may be a threat to us and to the world,” Armstrong explained in a recent letter to the Daily Planet.

Though Armstrong said no one had encouraged her to write a resolution on Iraq, she said a number of people have called and e-mailed her in support of the move.

“It was really very touching,” she said.

With a well-earned reputation for doggedly trying to keep the council out of national and international politics, Armstrong assures residents that her recent action is “not a trend.”

“So often the City Council has taken positions on foreign policy issues that don’t directly affect our residents,” she said. “My problem is that the rhetoric is so outrageous.”

Progressives on the council welcomed Armstrong’s change of heart on recent matters.

“Whether it is for political reasons or personal reasons, I am just happy the council can agree on this,” said Councilmember Kriss Worthington.

Mike Berkowitz, aide to Councilmember Maudelle Shirek, also a progressive, agreed. “Better to find religion late in life than never at all,” he said.

ASHLAND, Va. – A man was shot and wounded in a steakhouse parking lot Saturday night while walking to his car with his wife. Authorities were investigating whether the Washington-area sniper who has killed nine people had struck again, for the first time on a weekend.

The couple was leaving a Ponderosa restaurant around 8 p.m. when the 37-year-old man was shot once in the abdomen, authorities said. He was conscious and able to talk to doctors when he arrived at MCV Hospital in Richmond.

The man came out of surgery shortly after midnight after about three hours and was in critical condition, said hospital spokeswoman Pam Lepley. She said his injuries were still life threatening and wouldn’t speculate on whether he would recover. Ashland Police Chief Frederic Pleasants said doctors have not removed a bullet from the victim’s body.

Some witnesses said they heard the shot coming from a wooded area at the edge of the parking lot, said Pleasants. He said no witnesses reported seeing the shooter.

Ashland is about 90 miles south of Washington and about 35 miles south of Fredericksburg, where two previous shootings this month were linked to the sniper.

State police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said portions of Interstate 95 were immediately shut down as police set up road blocks. Roads were later reopened, and state police were monitoring traffic at exits.

Hanover County Sheriff Col. Stuart Cook said police can’t confirm the sniper was responsible, but were proceeding as if that were the case.

“The shot came out of the darkness,” Cook said. “We cannot afford to take a chance.”

Maryland State Police Sgt. William Vogt said troopers were on the lookout for a white van with a ladder rack. A sniper task force was on its way to the scene, said Montgomery County police Capt. Nancy Demme.

Lt. Doug Goodman of the Hanover County Sheriff’s Department said police were still interviewing witnesses. He said several vehicles were stopped minutes after the shooting, but no one was in custody.

If the shooting turns out to be related, it would be the first time the sniper attacked on a weekend; it also would break the longest lull in between shootings as the break in the spree had stretched into a fifth day.

It would be the 12th sniper shooting since they began Oct. 2; nine of the victims were killed. Before Monday’s killing of FBI analyst Linda Franklin at a Fairfax County Home Depot store, the longest gap between shootings was three days.

Pleasants said after dining at the restaurant for about an hour, the man’s wife heard a sound, but didn’t recognize it as a gunshot, then saw her husband take about three steps before collapsing.

Pleasants said the couple was traveling and had stopped to gas up and get something to eat, but did not say where they are from.

Ashland, with about 6,000 residents, is a favorite stop for travelers along Interstate 95. It is just off the highway and offers a variety of restaurants and gas stations. It is just north of Interstate 295, a bypass of Richmond and Petersburg.

Earlier Saturday, authorities tested a shell casing found in a white rental truck for links to the sniper attacks. Police said it would be at least Monday before they could announce whether the shell casing found in the truck — a vehicle similar to one police have profiled in the ambush killings — is connected to the shootings.

The Washington Post, quoting law enforcement sources, reported, however, that the cartridge was for a 7.62mm bullet, about equivalent to .30 caliber and larger than the .223 caliber bullets implicated in the earlier shootings. The bullets cannot be fired from the same weapon because they require different sized chambers and barrels.

The shell casing was found in a car seized at a rental agency near Dulles International Airport in Virginia, authorities said.

Pleasants said that because the bullet is lodged in the victim, police have not turned over any ballistic evidence to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

Pleasants said the victim’s vital signs are stable, but he sustained grave injuries. He may require more surgery, but it was not immediately clear when doctors would operate.

Meanwhile, high schools staged football games at secret locations so players could compete without fearing for their lives.

Jon DeNunzio, high school sports editor for The Washington Post, said some northern Virginia schools would tell his staff where games were being played only if the paper promised not to publish the sites. Washington schools refused to give notice, telling reporters when to show up at the schools so they could follow buses.

Fort Belvoir, an Army post south of Washington, offered the security of a military base for a football marathon for youth players from northern Virginia — 111 games Saturday and Sunday, moved from other locations for safety.

Games were played on nine fields hastily assembled from the base parade field and athletic fields by instructors from the base mapping school who surveyed the fields to set up the corners, and volunteers who laid out sidelines, end zones and yard lines.

Two of the sniper’s victims were buried Saturday.

More than 400 people turned out at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in Washington to remember Pascal Charlot, 72, a carpenter who moved from Haiti to Washington in 1964. He was gunned down Oct. 3 while standing on a street corner.

“He always found humor in every situation. No matter how bad things were, he would try to cheer you up,” said Danielle Charlot, his niece. “How could someone take that away from this family?”

Ed Rossbach, a pioneer in the fiber-arts movement, has died at age 88.

Rossbach died on Oct. 7 at a Berkeley hospital after a long illness.

He was an experimental pioneer in the use of non-traditional textile materials in works of art and often employed metal foil, plastic bags, Mylar, twigs, staples and twine in his pieces.

“His baskets were incredible,” said Inez Brooks-Myers, curator of costume and textiles at the Oakland Museum of California. “He was innovative, using throwaway materials for his baskets, but he also was innovative in his other weaving, where he would apply really old textile techniques in a very modern pop-culture, provocative way.”

Rossbach was born in Edison Park, Illinois, earned a bachelor’s degree in painting and design from the University of Washington in Seattle in 1940 and later received a master’s degree in art education from Columbia University’s Teacher’s College in 1941.

He was a professor emeritus of design at University of California, Berkeley, where he taught for 29 years.

Rossbach’s unique works are now part of collections in numerous museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

He was also the author of several books including “The Nature of Basketry” and “Baskets as Textile Art.”

A Berkeley police officer shot and killed a pit bull Sunday while responding to a domestic disturbance in northeast Berkeley, authorities said.

According to police, when two officers arrived at the scene sometime between 6:30 and 7 a.m., a pit bull emerged from between two houses and attacked one of the officers. The officer then shot the dog, which died at the scene, police said.

One person was arrested in connection for the domestic dispute. Police would not disclose if the dog belonged to the couple that called in the complaint.

The dog’s body was taken to the Berkeley Animal Shelter on Second Street, a police spokeswoman said.

A spokesman for Highland Hospital confirms that a man died after being shot in the back in West Oakland around 4:30 a.m. this morning.

Oakland police released no details about the shooting but the Oakland Fire Department says it happened outside the Wallace W. Knox chapter of the Boys and Girls Club of Oakland at 4801 Shattuck Ave. in west Oakland.

The man was given CPR by paramedics en route to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Two homeless men were talking at the corner of Shattuck Avenue and Haste Street at about 5:20 p.m. Wednesday, when a third homeless man arrived on the scene. According to police the third man attacked one of the men and continually kicked him in the head. The victim sustained numerous cuts and bruises and was taken to Highland Hospital for medical care. The suspect was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon, his feet.

n Squatters

A resident manager of an apartment complex on the 2400 block of Piedmont Avenue alerted police Wednesday night that a group of drug addicts had seized control of a vacated apartment. When officers arrived, they found four trespassers inside with methamphetamine and a large quantity of used and unused syringes. All four were arrested.

SAN FRANCISCO – Eddie “Gwen” Araujo was a good-looking girl – so good, it cost him his life.

The 17-year-old with high cheekbones and soft, pretty eyes never came home from a house party earlier this month. Instead, Araujo was allegedly beaten and strangled by three enraged men who discovered she was a he.

While saddened by the killing, members of the transgender community aren’t surprised. They say stories of assaults, mutilations and murders have become so common, new crimes are almost expected.

“I hear so much of it, it makes me sick,” said Theresa Sparks, a transgender commissioner on the San Francisco Human Rights Commission. “All of these are young people.”

Araujo left for the Oct. 3 party in his hometown of Newark dressed in flip flops and a denim skirt, but took a change of pants so it would be easier to conceal his true sex when he got drunk, according to court documents. That plan failed after a girl at the party returned from the bathroom and said “It’s a man,” the documents show.

The three men then allegedly attacked Araujo and dragged him – half conscious – into the garage where police believe they strangled him with a rope until he was presumed dead. His body was found buried in a shallow grave in the Sierra wilderness two weeks later, his wrists and ankles bound.

Sylvia Guerrero said her son will be buried in makeup and women’s clothes and “Gwen” will be engraved in his headstone – Araujo chose the name because he liked singer Gwen Stefani of the band No Doubt.

“He was born this way. He always felt like a girl,” she told a crowd of about 100 at a vigil Friday night. “Eddie was different, and people were mean to him.

“But he was my baby. He was my son. I loved him unconditionally,” she said. “When you see someone like Eddie, smile at him.”

Michael William Magidson, 27, Jaron Chase Nabors, 19, and Jose Antonio Merel, 24, all of Newark, face murder charges with a hate-crime enhancement that carries up to an additional four years in prison. They did not enter pleas in court Friday and were ordered held without bail.

A fourth suspect was arrested Wednesday but was released when the district attorney’s office determined there was not enough evidence to prosecute him.

In a study conducted by the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition about five years ago, two-thirds of transgender respondents said they had been physically or sexually assaulted, said executive director Riki Wilchins.

Gwen Smith started tracking transgender deaths in 1998 as part of the Remembering Our Dead Project and said many of the slayings share the same details. On average, about one anti-transgender murder is reported in the United States each month, she said.

“I think the No. 1 thing that people need to get is that we’re human and we have a right to live,” she said. “So often, we’re reduced to a thing. One of the more famous cases is that of Brandon Teena when one of the police officers questioned said, ‘You can call Brandon it for all I’m concerned.”’

Smith said Araujo’s slaying is eerily similar to that 1993 Nebraska slaying which was portrayed in the movie “Boys Don’t Cry.” Teena, a 21-year-old girl, was raped and shot to death by two men who discovered she was not a man.

The killing is also reminiscent of the bludgeoning death of 16-year-old Fred C. Martinez Jr. in Colorado. The Navajo boy was “two-spirited,” meaning he felt he was a girl in a boy’s body.

Unfortunately, Sparks said it takes high-profile killings to educate people about what it means to be transgender. She said it’s confusing for gay and straight people alike because it’s about gender identification, not sexual orientation. The term transgender describes a wide range of identities including cross-dressers, transvestites, transsexuals and those born with the physical characteristics of both sexes.

“One of our focuses will have to be more visibility,” Sparks said. “That seems to be a way to get rid of the perceptions that we’re sexual deviants or perverts.”

PETALUMA – A health products company has been ordered to pay a $137,895 fine for the deaths of two workers who died while cleaning a steel tank.

Spectrum Organic Products Inc. was cited for multiple safety violation by the state Occupational Safety and Health Administration, including failing to provide proper training and safety equipment to employees who clean the tanks.

The tanks are used to process flaxseed oil for use in a variety of organic food and health products, which are sold nationwide.

Spectrum has 15 days to appeal $137,895 in fines. Company officials said they would appeal the fines.

After Javier Del Rio, 42, and Francisco Estrella, 24, died inside the 12-foot high tank, company executives said both men performed the cleaning regularly and that they had been properly and recently trained.

Police investigators concluded that Estrella died trying to rescue Del Rio from the tank, which was full of argon gas, used to displace oxygen as part of a cleaning process.

Cal-OSHA spokesman Dean Fryer said the following of proper procedure would have prevented the deaths, and that the company bears sole responsibility.

OSHA cited the company for not posting danger signs, having no training program, and for not informing employees about the dangers of working in the oil processing tank.

The agency also found that Spectrum didn’t provide respirators, communications gear or emergency rescue equipment for workers performing the kind of work Estrella and Del Rio were doing when they died.

All of the violations have since been corrected, according to Fryer.

Con man gets three years

REDDING – A San Francisco man who posed as a silver dealer was sentenced to three years in prison for stealing $4,099 from two Shasta County women.

Serge Alexandre, 76, claimed to be a dealer for Westmoreland Sterling Silver and offered the women a discount if they paid in advance for their silver order.

He kept the cash without delivering the merchandise to the women, authorities said.

SAN DIEGO – San Diego County’s economy is still suffering from tight border security put in place after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to a recent study.

A survey of more than 100 businesses in the San Diego area show that shoppers from Mexico account for a significant number of sales, said Kenn Morris, director of Crossborder Business Associates.

Long waits at the border caused a drop in crossings, hurting businesses, he said.

During the first six months of this year, 23.8 million crossings were recorded at the San Ysidro and Otay Mesa ports of entry, compared with 28.8 million during the same period last year, according to the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Morris’ group recommended making border crossings more efficient.

The INS plans to add three scanning machines to speed up background checks, said INS spokeswoman Adele Fasano.

It is also considering special lanes for frequent pedestrian visitors just as it has done for those crossing the border by car, she said.

Woman puts husband up for auction on eBay

LOS ANGELES – A woman looking for a creative way to help her unemployed husband find a job posted his resume on eBay and put him up for auction.

But Sherri Edwards said the first and only bid was $1.

“And that was out of sympathy,” she said.

The posting has grabbed a lot of attention for Dean Edwards, but so far he hasn’t gotten any job offers. The marketing specialist said he was laid off three months ago from a tech firm.

“We’ve had about 1,000 hits, but everyone just wants to vent about their own job search and how difficult it is right now,” Sherri Edwards said.

Woman indicted for helping Aryan prison gang

RODEO – A 51-year-old Rodeo woman indicted on racketeering charges was expected to surrender to federal authorities today, an agent for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said.

Marty Laine Foakes, also known as Marty Donohue, was one of 39 people indicted in August by a federal grand jury in a massive criminal probe of the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang.

Prosecutors believe Foakes was one of several gang associates who relayed messages between high-ranking members in different federal penitentiaries during the 1990s.

The indictment was unsealed Thursday, when police in 12 states served 80 search warrants and arrested 38 of the suspects. Thirty of those arrested were already incarcerated for unrelated offenses.

Foakes was not at her home when ATF agents served a search warrant Thursday morning, said Andy Traver, assistant special agent in charge of the ATF’s San Francisco office.

Foakes’ attorney told ATF agents his client would surrender Monday in Los Angeles federal court, he said. Police will continue to search for Foakes over the weekend, he added.

Authorities are also searching for 29-year-old Jason Lee Schwyhart of Green River, Ark., a suspected gang member who allegedly took part in the murder of two black inmates at a penitentiary in Illinois.

The 110-page indictment charges the defendants under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act with being part of an organization that uses murder, intimidation and perjury to help the Aryan Brotherhood maintain its hold on drug-dealing, gambling and extortion in state and federal prisons.

Foakes is accused of passing messages among members that often contained hidden messages “through coded language,” said assistant U.S. attorney Gregory Jessner.

Man arrested in murder

WOODLAND – A Sacramento man was arrested on suspicion of killing a Southern California man and dumping his body in Yolo County, officials said.

DENVER – Property-rights groups plan to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to determine whether President Clinton acted illegally when he protected Colorado’s Canyons of the Ancients, California’s groves of giant sequoias and six other federal tracts as national monuments in 2000.

On Friday, a federal appeals court in Washington rejected arguments by the Mountain States Legal Foundation, timber interests and recreation groups that Clinton overstepped his authority when he established seven national monuments in five states during the last months of his administration.

William Perry Pendley, president of Mountain States Legal Foundation, said Clinton violated the Antiquities Act of 1906 when he set aside the 2 million acres.

“I think the big difficulty with the court’s decision is that it indicates the president has the power to achieve whatever environmental objective he wants through the antiquities act,” Pendley said. “We think that’s too broad a reading.”

The other monuments challenged were Grand Canyon-Parashant, Ironwood Forest and Sonoran Desert national monuments in Arizona; Giant Sequoia National Monument in California; the Cascades-Siskiyou National Monument in Oregon and the Hanford Reach in Washington.

The three-judge appellate panel called the Mountain States’ claim a “bald assertion” with no evidence.

The group intervened because lawyers were afraid Bush wouldn’t defend the monuments. The Interior Department claimed presidents can scale back or eliminate monuments under the act, which the court rejected.

LOS ANGELES – A 41-year-old man has asked for a protection order against his girlfriend’s father, a Superior Court judge who testified during a child custody hearing that he would kill him.

Judge James A. Kaddo told a court in April that he would kill Fadi Nora because he didn’t want the man near his three grandchildren — a remark he now says he regrets.

“It was a stupid thing to say, but I was a grandfather in tears,” Kaddo told the Los Angeles Times in an article published Sunday.

In court documents filed last month in Orange County Superior Court, Nora said the remark is the latest in a series of threats Kaddo has made against him since he began dating Kaddo’s daughter two years ago.

Nora has asked the court to bar Kaddo from coming within 150 yards of him, his home, his car or his workplace. A hearing has been scheduled for Oct. 25.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office declined to file criminal charges against Kaddo, 68, saying investigators concluded the remarks were not an actual threat, but “an inappropriate emotional response to a very charged issue,” the Times reported.

During the hearing, Kaddo urged Commissioner Ann Dobbs to deny his daughter’s bid for custody of her three children, ranging in ages from 8 to 13. He wanted her to return to her husband and leave Nora.

“I can’t stand to have that psycho around my grandkids. I’m going to do what I have to do to save my grandchildren,” said Kaddo, according to a transcript of the hearing.

When asked what he meant, Kaddo said, “If it means killing him, I will do it.”

Kaddo’s attorney said the judge’s testimony was misinterpreted.

In addition to seeking a restraining order against the judge, Nora filed a complaint with the state Commission on Judicial Performance, which investigates allegations of misconduct and disciplines judges.

SAN FRANCISCO – After promising this week to produce proof of a dockworker slowdown at West Coast ports, shipping companies embroiled in a labor dispute with longshoremen on Friday again delayed filing the documents with Department of Justice lawyers.

The records are key because federal prosecutors will review them and decide whether to go after the longshoremen’s union based on a federal court order that reopened the ports last week after a 10-day lockout.

Officials with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union pounced on the apparent delay as evidence the association was scrounging for a case — and unable to grasp one because workers are doing their best to move cargo under difficult and dangerous conditions.

But a spokesman with the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents shipping companies and port terminal operators, dismissed that suggestion. Association lawyers were reviewing the document, a narrative sprinkled with data that asserts work productivity is off up to 30 percent in some ports, and would either e-mail it today.

“We had hoped to complete the document and make the submission to the Department of Justice earlier this week, but we want to ensure that the case we make is air-tight,” association spokesman John Pachtner said Friday. “Everyone would like to move from analysis to action as quickly as possible.”

Association officials had said the submission would be made Thursday, and on Friday morning said it was about to go — but by close of business Friday, the document had not been sent.

“They don’t have a case and they’ve got to keep searching and searching for something that’ll hold up to cross-examination,” said union spokesman Steve Stallone. “And they don’t have it.”

A federal judge may determine that.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge William Alsup formally approved the 80-day “cooling-off” period that President Bush requested last week. Under the order, longshoremen must work “at a normal pace” — if Alsup determines they are deliberately slowing down, he has broad discretion to impose penalties.

In an interview Friday, association President Joseph Miniace said he didn’t want Justice Department lawyers to drag the union to court. Rather, Miniace said he wanted prosecutors to tell union officials to “stop screwing around” and hunker down at the bargaining table.

It was a meltdown over a new contract that led to the lockout late last month. A federal mediator met with union officials Wednesday and may meet with association representatives next week.

Chief atop his list of issues will be how to modernize 29 major Pacific ports covered by the contract to the satisfaction of the 10,500-member union — that is, how to introduce labor-saving technology without slashing too many union jobs.

It won’t be an easy task, not least with both sides busy trading blame for the slow pace of cargo movement.

The union says the association has sabotaged the reopening by undersupplying equipment such as truck chassis to move containers so that the congested docks will remain a mess, even going on two weeks after the lockout ended.

“They are purposely not moving the containers off the docks so that the whole place is a disaster,” Stallone said.

Nonsense, said Miniace.

“We know the union is going to say it’s a backlog from the shutdown,” he said. “Yes, it is a little congested, but have we handled these volumes in the past? Absolutely.”

Miniace said the association is documenting slowdowns in each port — from a 28 percent drop in productivity at Oakland to around 20 percent in Tacoma, Seattle and Portland to around 10 percent in Los Angeles/Long Beach, the nation’s largest port complex.

Meanwhile, the lingering effects of the shutdown continue to shiver through the economy.

Honda of America Manufacturing Inc. temporarily halted production Friday at four Ohio plants to allow parts to build up in the automaker’s supply line, disrupted because of the labor dispute at West Coast ports. The move affected nearly 12,000 workers. The work should resume early next week.

Also, a ship with thousands of cameras the San Francisco Giants were going to give away during Game 4 of the World Series next week is stalled outside the Port of Los Angeles. They won’t arrive in time.

SAN FRANCISCO – Adobe Systems Inc. today launched its popular Acrobat software in a new direction aimed at increasing the use of the Internet to fill out contracts, tax forms and other key documents.

With the move, San Jose-based Adobe will put its fully loaded Acrobat package on Web servers that will be licensed to businesses and government agencies.

The buyers then can use the Acrobat Web servers to unlock all of the software package’s applications, including the ability to sign a document with a digital signature, for their customers.

The Acrobat Reader, which Adobe gives away, is already widely available and is commonly used to transfer documents electronically. An estimated 400 million computers worldwide have the program.

But the Acrobat Reader doesn’t include the power to produce digital signatures or add annotations, limitations that have retarded its use for online business.

Individuals who wanted all of Acrobat’s features currently must pay a suggested retail price of $249 for the desktop version.

That high price tag meant businesses and government agencies couldn’t expect visitors to their Web site to have the tools necessary to fill out electronic forms such as mortgage applications and insurance policies.

“This is going to enable all kinds of transactions online that weren’t possible before,” Bruce Chizen, Adobe’s chief executive, predicted in an interview. “It will encourage more electronic transactions.”

The new server product is expected to be particularly popular among banks, insurance companies and government agencies that traditionally require heavy paperwork.

SAN FRANCISCO – The San Francisco city attorney filed a civil lawsuit that claims one of the Bay Area’s largest mechanical contractors faked a partnership with a Filipino firm to defraud the city’s minority contracting program of $8 million.

The lawsuit alleges that William D. Spencer, the white owner of F.W. Spencer & Son Inc. and Brisbane Mechanical Co., created a fake joint venture to help the companies’ bids for contracts on the nearly $3 billion expansion of San Francisco International Airport.

Three of Spencer’s employees were also named in the lawsuit for allegedly helping Spencer form the bogus joint venture with Virgilio and Gerardina Talao, the minority owners of San Luis Gonzaga Construction.

Spencer told the San Francisco Chronicle that he knew nothing about the complaint.

The lawsuit says Spencer reported that San Luis Gonzaga Construction controlled 51 percent of a partnership with Brisbane Mechanical and that San Luis Gonzaga would perform more than half of the work.

City Attorney Dennis Herrera said Spencer’s companies, and not San Luis Gonzaga, did all of the work on more than $8 million in contracts that the joint venture won between 1996 and 1999. The city is demanding that the money paid on those contracts be repaid.

The three-year investigation of abuses of the minority program has focused on subcontractors, many of which worked for entities controlled by the Tutor-Saliba Corp.

Tutor-Saliba won $841 million of work at the airport, and the city attorney is investigating the company for possible overbilling at the airport.

In September, federal prosecutors dropped all criminal charges against a San Francisco city official and a Hunters Point plumber who were accused of defrauding a city-sponsored minority contractors program.

Zula Jones, a contract compliance officer for the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, and plumber Alvin P. Norman Jr. were indicted in April 2000 along with three company officers from San Leandro-based, Scott Co., a white-owned mechanical contracting firm.

Scott Co. won at least $55.1 million on the airport expansion project as a minority subcontractor to construction giant Tutor-Saliba Corp.

In February, the firm and its vice president Robert Nurisso, 59, of Redwood City, pleaded guilty in the case. Scott Co. was ordered to pay $1.5 million in fines and restitution and Nurisso to serve six months home detention and pay an additional $500,000 restitution.

SAN FRANCISCO – Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco have developed a new mad cow disease detector they claim is faster and more accurate than existing models and could “significantly reduce human exposure” to the fatal brain-destroying malady.

UCSF researchers said their test can detect 10,000 more abnormal prions – the disease-causing proteins – per gram of tested tissue than more conventional tests.

Such sensitive readings could spare cattle wrongly diagnosed as having the disease, known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy. The readings could also detect infected cows now misdiagnosed with false negative results, said Dr. Jiri Safar, who was lead author on a scientific paper discussing the research published online Sunday in the scientific journal Nature Biotechnology.

Other prion disease experts agree the UCSF test is the most sensitive reported, but question how it will improve upon the current methods of diagnosing mad cow disease. Tests already available are sensitive enough to detect most occurrences of mad cow disease, they said.

“This is a Cadillac when a Pinto is all you really need,” said Dr. Pierluigi Gambetti at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

Still, Gambetti said the UCSF test is impressive and could open the door to blood testing, which would allow diagnosis of mad cow disease while the cow is still alive. Currently, mad cow disease is only diagnosed by examining the brains of dead cows.

More than 100 Europeans have died of the brain-destroying Creutzfeld-Jakob disease linked to eating infected cattle. Some 179,000 cattle have been found to have mad cow disease since 1986.

One of the biggest challenges in testing for prion-related disease is distinguishing the abnormal prions from naturally occurring healthy prions.

The UCSF test employs antibodies genetically engineered to seek out and bind with abnormal prions in tissue samples. Safar said the test performed flawlessly on 1,729 samples.

Safar works in the lab of Dr. Stanley Prusiner, who co-wrote the paper and who won the 1997 Nobel Prize in Medicine for discovery that abnormal prions cause mad cow disease. The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Safar and Prusiner also hope to profit from the new test, which is being considered for commercial use by the European Commission. Both are investors in InPro Biotechnology Inc., a tiny South San Francisco startup launched by Prusiner in 2001 and which owns the commercial rights to the UCSF test.

The company hopes to have the test on the European market by sometime next year, said InPro president Scott McKinlay. McKinlay estimated the commercial market for such a test in Europe to be about $200 million.

Less than three weeks until the mayoral election, candidate Tom Bates and incumbent Mayor Shirley Dean are defending themselves against charges of campaign finance impropriety.

For Bates, Thursday night’s Fair Campaign Practices Commission meeting brought good news. He was cleared of a charge that he accepted campaign contributions above the legal limit.

Dean, though, was forced to acknowledge that she mishandled campaign contributions, though she was absolved of any intentional wrongdoing. Dean conceded she breached a minor technicality of the city’s finance law because she was given bad counsel from the city attorney’s office.

“I just followed the advice of city staff,” Dean said in an earlier interview. She said the charges against her, filed by Bates’ campaign treasurer, were politically motivated.

The charges against Bates came from Berkeley resident Marie Bowman. She accused the mayoral candidate of illegally accepting four campaign contributions of $500. Berkeley law forbids donors from giving more than $250 per election cycle.

Bowman filed the charge after seeing Bates’ Oct. 7 campaign finance disclosure forms, which showed the $500 contributions in a column marked “Per Election To Date.” But Bates’ campaign treasurer Mal Burnstein said the figures were the result of a computer glitch and should have read $250.

An inquiry by the city attorney’s office supported Burnstein’s contention, and the commission dropped the charges.

Last month Burnstein claimed that Dean wrongly classified nearly $3000 in 2002 campaign funds as office expenses. In a separate, but related charge, Berkeley resident Carrie Olson charged Dean of accepting donations greater than the $250 limit during her 1998 campaign for mayor.

An inquiry by the city attorney’s office found that both claims were attributable to accounting errors made by a Dean campaign official in 1999.

That year, Dean initiated a fund raising effort to pay back about $24,000 in debt from her 1998 campaign. In the process, her then-treasurer Tom Luten allowed donors who had already given the allowable $250 to also give toward her debt drive. While Luten counted the money toward the 1998 campaign, it should have been counted toward the 2000 campaign since the donors had already made their maximum 1998 contributions.

Also, because Dean believed she had a $7,700 surplus from the 1998 campaign after her debt drive, she received permission from the city attorney to allocate nearly $3000 of that as office holder expenses. The rest of it was transferred to the 2002 campaign.

As part of the agreement brokered by the city’s campaign commission, Dean must now re-file her campaign records, identifying the entire $7,700 surplus raised in 1999 as 2002 campaign funds.

The commission will meet again on Oct. 30 to hear a complaint filed by Berkeley resident Sam Herbert against Bates. Herbert alleges that the Bates campaign accepted illegal donations from political action commissions because the commissions accepted corporate donations, a violation of Berkeley finance law.

Burnstein insists that Herbert has misinterpreted Berkeley law, and that the contributions are legal.

I was dismayed to see Gordon Wozniak recycle a horrible idea (Daily Planet, Oct. 14): changing rent control from a universal program protecting all tenants to a means-tested program covering only the needy.

Most beneficiaries of rent control are not yuppies; an overwhelming majority of tenant households have low incomes. However, if the only units subject to rent control were those occupied by people in poverty, then hardly any landlords would rent to poor tenants. Rent control allows landlords to make reasonable profits, as it must do in order to pass constitutional muster. It does not force landlords to subsidize tenants, only to keep rent increases within fair bounds.

Protection against unwarranted rent hikes should be provided to the greatest possible number of tenants. Although low-income renters need rent control the most, no tenant deserves to be gouged.

If Mr. Wozniak were truly concerned about the welfare of tenants in the district he seeks to represent, rather than attack rent control, he would urge that it be strengthened.

In particular, he would commit himself to encouraging the state Legislature to repeal Costa-Hawkins, the law that took away our local rent control program's power to stop rents from soaring when old tenants move out and new tenants move in.

Local historical archives are enlivened with thousands of still pictures showing Berkeley's places, people, and events of past decades. But for a more animated glimpse into early local life, nothing beats old home movies, newsreels and other film footage.

You have an opportunity to see moving images of Berkeley dating back nearly a century at a special screening, “Berkeley History on Film”, this weekend, Sunday, Oct. 20th, at 3:00 PM at the Pacific Film Archive theater on the UC Berkeley campus. The program is free.

The Berkeley Historical Society (BHS) pioneered local film screenings under the guidance of Ellen Drori and others. In recent years, in cooperation with BHS, UC's Pacific Film Archive has taken up the torch and assembled a 90 minute program to delight local audiences. The mostly silent films are accompanied by a pianist and by live narration.

The oldest short film in the program is “A Trip to Berkeley,” from 1906. Ride along on a streetcar as it travels past the UC campus and catch a glimpse of now vanished houses and even an early 20th century traffic hazard – a horse in the middle of Hearst Avenue.

See “Interurban Railway” footage from 1941, and marvel at the transit options available to Berkeley commuters back in the “old days”.

An episode of the “Officer 444” crime serial set in Berkeley in the mid-1920s includes a cameo appearance by Berkeley's famed police chief August Vollmer, pioneer of “scientific policing.”

Student spirit is also on display in nostalgic footage showing senior class activities at Cal in 1912, including the traditional “Senior Pilgrimage” through campus.

An unforgettable part of the program is the newsreel footage of the 1923 Berkeley fire, which destroyed some 600 buildings north of campus in a period of hours. See dramatic images of wind-whipped flames spreading through entire blocks of houses and hundreds of students and others trying to fight the fire and salvage belongings.

The “Hink's Shoplifting Training Film” is the highlight of the program. Produced for Hink's Department Store (once a fixture in Downtown Berkeley), the film showed employees how to spot and deter shoplifters. Although the producers didn't intend the film as a comedy, you'll be highly amused. Watch out for that grandmotherly lady browsing at the cosmetics counter!

SAN FRANCISCO — It’s nearing 11 p.m. as six guys hop on a city bus, each of them toting a wheeled contraption that looks like the monster truck of skateboards.

The men, mostly young professionals in their 20s, have already spent years looking to ride the perfect ocean wave or carve into an untouched mountainside of powder snow. But those aren’t options right now.

Tonight, the moon is out, the fog uncharacteristically absent and traffic scant — ideal conditions for a sport that combines techniques used in skateboarding, snowboarding and even surfing. Some call it carveboarding or flowboarding, names derived from the brand of boards they ride.

In rougher terrain, with no asphalt and wheeled boards that have bindings, it’s commonly known as mountainboarding.

“Final destination,” driver Roy Flugence says over the bus loudspeaker, drawing a chorus of laughter and cheers as the group exits at the top of a steep hill.

The next few hours are a flurry of wild rides and commentary — “Nice one!” and “Watch the wall!” — through San Francisco’s Sunset district, a residential neighborhood with Pacific Ocean views.

Fueled by a steady intake of doughnuts, candy and the occasional beer, the riders race down the hills, one after the other, making quick, zigzagging turns. Along the way, they scope out driveways that make good ramps for fancy turns and a little added excitement.

Beginners are advised to start with deeply carved, slower turns. And even the most experienced riders adjust their wheel pressure to the incline (softer tires have more grip on steep hills).

“Ohhhhh, man,” Josiah Bunting said as he got up after a too-close encounter with a telephone pole.

Even he admits that falling is “unnerving” — and he won on the reality TV show “Fear Factor,” a gig that included jumping from a moving vehicle.

“All you can do is dig in your wheels, lower your center of gravity and hope for the best,” said Bunting, who sells ads for a high-tech magazine by day.

He and the others choose not to wear helmets or other protective gear. But most board makers recommend otherwise.

Apparently no one told the Yellowjackets that there are no points for degree of difficulty in football.

Despite committing eight turnovers and racking up 115 yard in penalties, the Berkeley High football team beat Alameda-Contra Costa Athletic League newcomer Hercules in overtime, 34-28.

Berkeley (6-0 overall, 3-0 ACCAL) quarterback Dessalines Gant drove over the line from four yards out in overtime to give the Jackets the win after Hercules (3-2, 2-1) failed to score from the 25-yard line in their portion of the college-style overtime format.

The win came courtesy of the Berkeley defense, which allowed just four scores despite their offense giving the Titans great field position. Hercules started drives inside Berkeley territory seven times, including three inside the 10-yard line, and came away with scores just three of those times. The Titans gained just 212 yards in the game and turned the ball over four times.

“I couldn’t be more proud of my guys,” Berkeley defensive coordinator Ron Moore said. “We stopped [Hercules] a lot. I pulled out every stop to motivate those guys today.”

Safety Chris Watson had two interceptions for the Jackets, and defensive end Robert Hunter-Ford picked off a screen pass and returned it 30 yards for Berkeley’s second touchdown of the game. The Jackets also sacked Hercules quarterback Byron Edwards seven times, including one for a safety by tackle Jamal Johnson-Lucas in the second quarter.

“Our defense was amazing tonight,” Berkeley head coach Matt Bissell said. “The score won’t show it, but that was a dominating performance.”

With a halftime lead of 22-6, it looked as if Berkeley was in for yet another easy win. But Gant threw five interceptions on just seven second-half pass attempts, underthrowing several open receivers, to help keep the Titans in the game.

All three Hercules touchdowns in the second half came off of Berkeley turnovers, the last coming with 1:48 left in regulation when quarterback Byron Edwards scrambled into the end zone from five yards out to cut the Berkeley lead to 28-26. A taunting penalty moved the two-point conversion try back to the 18, but a pass interference call brought it back to the 9. Edwards found Warner West open in the end zone to tie the score and send the officials into a huddle to consult the ACCAL rule book about overtime.

Berkeley won the coin toss and elected to play defense first, with both teams getting a shot at scoring from the 25-yard line. Berkeley stopped the Titans on four plays, including defensive end Rodney Jones’ third sack of the game on fourth down, then ran the ball five times before Gant’s scoring plunge.

Berkeley head coach Matt Bissell was happy just to escape with a win after his team blew a 16-point fourth quarter lead.

“You’re always excited to go into someone else’s house and come out with a win,” Bissell said. “But there are no excuses. We just didn’t play well at all today.”

Bissell took some of the blame on himself, especially for choosing to pass with less than three minutes left in the game and an eight-point lead. Although wide receiver Sean Young was open, Gant underthrew him and Hercules safety Tito Mays came up with his second interception of the game, returning it to the Berkeley 5-yard line to set up Edwards’ touchdown run.

“That was probably a bad decision on my part,” Bissell said of the play-call. “We saw something and thought we could get a first down or touchdown. But the fact of the matter is the smart thing would have been to run the ball.”

The easiest score for Hercules was actually their longest, a 70-yard touchdown pass from Edwards to West on their first offensive play of the game. But the Titans missed the extra point, putting them behind 7-6 after a 7-yard touchdown run by Berkeley’s Craig Hollis, who scored twice in the first half.

Berkeley got its own big play from Young, who ran a double reverse 37 yards for a touchdown to put his team up 28-12 early in the fourth quarter.

Journalist Suzan Hagstrom will speak on her nonfiction book, which delves into the Holocaust.

644-3635

“A Language Older Than Words”

7 p.m.

2350 San Pablo Ave. near Dwight Way

An evening with author Derrick Jensen, with music by Andrea Pritchett.

548-2220

$6-$10/ Sliding scale.

Wednesday, Oct. 23

An evening with Simon Winchester

7 p.m.

Sibley Auditorium, Bechtel Engineering Center, UC Berkeley

Join the author of bestsellers “The Map That Changed the World” and “The Professor and the Madman”, along with Don George, global travel editor for Lonely Planet Publications, for an evening of lively conversations.

City Council candidate Carlos Estrada doesn’t expect to win. But he does have a larger goal in mind – a new, radical political movement.

“If there was a strong movement for radical reform, I’d have a good chance (to get elected), but that’s not the case,” said Estrada, a Green Party member, pledging to construct a movement and continue running for office in the future.

“I’m building a movement for change in Berkeley,” said Estrada, who has called for heavy taxation on local corporations and a new student- and worker-run governing body for the University of California to replace the Board of Regents.

Estrada, 42, is one of four candidates vying for retiring City Councilmember Polly Armstrong’s 8th District council seat.

Armstrong is one of four “moderates” on the nine-member panel and her protege, Gordon Wozniak, is considered the favorite by some. UC Berkeley graduate student Andy Katz and human rights consultant Anne Wagley are also serious contenders.

Estrada, an air conditioning mechanic and journeyman who hails from Mexico, has focused much of his campaign on boosting local democracy. He wants to extend the vote to non-resident aliens and reduce the voting age from 18 to 16.

The City Council itself could not put in place the change he envisions. Giving non-resident aliens the right to vote would require U.S. and California constitutional amendments and reducing the voting age would require a state constitutional amendment, according to a spokesperson from the California Secretary of State’s office.

But Estrada said he would seek to provide political leadership on issues that would require state and federal action.

Estrada also proposes dismantling Berkeley’s dozens of citizen commissions, currently appointed by City Council and Board of Education members, and replacing them with elected councils in each district that would weigh the issues considered by the current commissions.

“It sounds messy,” said Katz. “But it’s a good point that we need better systems of input from neighbors.”

Katz said he would work to strengthen neighborhood associations in the 8th District and would have open office hours for constituents to facilitate input.

Wagley, one of Estrada’s competitors, said he is bringing an important perspective to the campaign. “He’s raising some good issues of citizen participation,” she said.

But Wagley argued that Estrada, who is focusing his campaign on the UC Berkeley campus, does not have wide support in the district.

Estrada acknowledges that his current level of support is limited, but said he is committed to running a campaign true to his ideals.

After attending the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City, Estrada emigrated to the United States in 1986 and landed in southern California, organizing against President Reagan’s Immigration Reform and Control Act, which boosted funding for immigration control and imposed sanctions on businesses hiring illegal aliens.

In 1992, Estrada moved to the Bay Area and took a job with the San Francisco AIDS Foundation as a hotline supervisor, where he took part in the movement to unionize workers.

After four years, Estrada left the AIDS Foundation and began work as an air conditioning mechanic for a private firm in San Leandro. Today, Estrada lives in UC Berkeley student housing with his wife Vera Candiani, a doctoral candidate, and his four year-old son Fabrizio.

Gordon Wozniak, Berkeley City Council candidate in the 8th District, certainly has got it right when he says that small landlords can end up subsidizing wealthy renters. Here’s an example. I own a triplex that I live in. I have a couple in each of the other units. In one unit they earn five times what I do and in the other they earn four times as much. Last year we were allowed to raise the rent $8 per unit per month; a total of $16 for the two. At the same time the city raised my monthly costs through annual property taxes and garbage pickup increases that amount to more than $35 a month. Not only do rent increases not even keep pace with the increased costs handed out by the city, but there are increases in everything else: house insurance, water, sewerage, gas, appliances, carpeting, painters, plumbers, electricians, etc. The handyman I use has gone from $15 an hour to $35 during the time that I’ve owned the triplex, for example. While all these costs go up every year, there have been years when the rent board allowed zero rent increase.

While I started out as a landlord in favor of rent control, not only am I now absolutely opposed, but when I do have a vacant unit I try to get the highest rent possible to make up for both past losses and to protect myself against the miserly allowed annual increases. High rents mean a lot of turnover which I’d prefer to avoid, but the city of Berkeley gives me no choice with its thoughtless Robin Hood-in-reverse policies.

NEW YORK — New Jersey poet laureate Amiri Baraka criticized Israeli and Jewish groups’ involvement in U.S. politics and reiterated that he would not give up his post as official state poet amid accusations of anti-Semitism.

In a nearly hour-long monologue and question-and-answer session Thursday at the Bowery Poetry Club, Baraka struck back at critics, saying he wanted to know “why the Anti-Defamation League is not registered as an agent of a foreign power.”

The Jewish civil rights organization and New Jersey Gov. James E. McGreevey have called for Baraka’s resignation over his poem, “Somebody Blew Up America,” which implies that Israel had prior knowledge of the Sept. 11 attacks.

The Bruins haven’t been very good at stopping the run, giving up more than 155 yards per game. Cal desperately needs to establish its running game to take pressure off of quarterback Kyle Boller, who has seen increasing heat as the season has worn on. UCLA is much slower than last week’s opponent, USC, so tailback Joe Igber’s jitterbug style should be more effective. Backup Terrell Williams is finally 100 percent and provides a nice contrast with his slashing style.

In the trenches

Defensive end Dave Ball is the only Bruin with more than two sacks, but UCLA gets good pressure up front from a range of players. Tackle Steve Morgan is a load at 313 pounds, but the defensive line is thin, so the Bears may be able to wear them down and get some big plays late in the game. Cal is healthy up front for the first time in a month, so some improvement should be expected.

Taking to the air

UCLA has two outstanding cornerbacks in Ricky Manning and Matt Ware. Both have the size and speed to cover any receiver, so it will be key for Boller to get through his reads and find second and third options. UCLA’s linebackers are undersized but speedy and should be able to cover the short zones effectively. If Geoff McArthur is still hobbled by a hamstring injury, the Bears may have trouble getting LaShaun Ward and Jonathon Makonnen open.

When UCLA has the ball

The ground game

Freshman Tyler Ebell has been a terror as the starter for the last two weeks, rushing for 322 yards. Akil Harris and Manuel White have also started this season, so it’s clear the Bruins have some depth there. The Cal linebackers must step up and make sure tackles in front of the secondary, while the defensive line will have to stop the run before rushing the passer. If the Ebell can duplicate USC back Sultan McCullough’s effort last week, the Bears will be in trouble.

In the trenches

UCLA’s offensive line is big and effective, but they have allowed 15 sacks this season. The Bears will finally have a stationary target at quarterback, as UCLA’s Cory Paus is the least-mobile quarterback in the Pac-10. Cal’s Tully Banta-Cain could have a field day if he is allowed to tee off on Paus, so look for the Bruins to try and establish the running game early to keep the Bears on their heels.

Taking to the air

The Bears face yet another set of big, fast wide receivers in Craig Bragg and Tab Perry. Both 6-foot-2, they are virtually interchangeable, although Bragg has better numbers so far this season. Bragg broke out with 230 yards and three touchdowns last week against Oregon, so Paus will probably be looking his way a lot this week. Cal may put Nnamdi Asomugha at cornerback to match up with the UCLA receivers, which will weaken the Bears’ run support.

Three months after the retirement of long-standing Police Chief Dash Butler, Berkeley has formally begun its search for a replacement.

The city announced this week that it hired Roseville-based Bob Murray and Associates, an executive search firm, to conduct a nationwide hunt for the new chief.

“We’re looking for a person who has good experience with community policing and a long history of working in a diverse community,” said Arrietta Chakos, deputy city manager.

The search will take an estimated six months and require candidates to interview with city officials and residents.

The rigorous application process has become standard for top Berkeley jobs, said Chakos. “We take a very sophisticated approach, and the community expects no less,” she said.

The next chief will earn a salary between $119,784 and $164,609, according to an advertisement posted on the California Police Chief Association Web site.

Butler, who was promoted to chief from lieutenant in 1990, had the longest tenure of any police chief in Berkeley history.

Current Berkeley police officers can apply for the position. It is not known if interim Police Chief Roy Meisner plans to make himself a candidate. Meisner, a 30-year veteran of the Berkeley force, was deputy police chief under Butler.

In a town that's often bitterly divided by politics, everyone agrees that Berkeley is in dire need of safe, affordable housing. The challenge: how to pay for such housing when federal funds have gotten scarce. One way is to vote for Measure M.

By slightly increasing the tax on the sale of property from its current rate of 1.5 percent to 2 percent of the sales price, Measure M will raise $2 million dollars a year. Half of that money will go to housing that is permanently affordable and provided to people who live or work in Berkeley. The rest will fund seismic upgrading of multi-unit residences and temporary emergency assistance to people who are at risk of becoming homeless. You will not pay this tax unless you buy or sell property. Measure M also exempts people who sell their home for less than $350,000 or at a loss.

NEW YORK — He hardly mentions his fatal illness, and makes a brief, sarcastic reference to allegations of plagiarism that surfaced in the last year of his life.

Historian Stephen Ambrose’s “To America,” a book of “personal reflections” completed shortly before his death, is, essentially, a work of history.

“In this short volume, I tell stories about Americans from the past, what they did, how they did it, with what results,” writes Ambrose, who died Oct. 13 at age 66, less than six months after announcing he had lung cancer.

“To America” will be released on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, with a first printing of 275,000.

Ambrose, whose many best sellers included such World War II books as “Band of Brothers” and “D-Day,” saw his reputation repeatedly challenged earlier this year when reports emerged of passages that closely resembled the works of others.

“The Wild Blue,” “Nothing Like It in the World” and “Citizen Soldiers” were among several works found to contain questionable material. A revised edition of “The Wild Blue” came out last spring.

In “To America,” Ambrose refers to the controversy in a passage about his writing process. He confides that some of his best lines have come from his wife, Moira, and then comments, “I could give hundreds of examples, but if I did so my critics would accuse me of stealing her words (which I do).”

He goes on to list seven of his best sellers from over the past decade and states, “These are all substantial books with great chunks of footnotes, whether from memoirs, diaries, official histories, newspapers, archives.”

Footnotes, ironically, were at the heart of criticisms against him. Ambrose often defended himself by pointing out that he included footnotes, widely considered by historians as inadequate credit for material highly similar to its source.

Ambrose knew he might not live to see his book published, but waits until the end, in the “Acknowledgments” section, to discuss his illness.

The Cal women’s soccer team broke two ugly streaks on Friday during their 2-0 win over Oregon. The Bears scored their first goals of the Pac-10 season, and Laura Schott got her first goal in almost a year.

Kassie Doubrava scored Cal’s first goal of conference play in the 80th minute, then Schott scored her first goal of the season in injury time to seal the win.

The Ducks proved a surprisingly tough opponent despite their 1-8-2 record coming into the game. Although the Bears had several good scoring chances before Doubrava’s goal and outshot Oregon 19-6, the game wasn’t decided until Schott’s goal.

“Every Pac-10 game is tough,” Cal head coach Kevin Boyd said. “[The Ducks] don’t have the best record, but we had to battle all the way.”

Cal (8-4-1, 1-2) was shut out in losses to UCLA and USC last weekend to open their conference schedule, and had gone 260 minutes without scoring before Doubrava gathered a long pass from Schott, beat one defender and slid the ball past Oregon goalkeeper Sarah Peters.

But they needed just 10 minutes to score again, this time with forward Dania Cabello taking a through pass from defender Lucy Brining and slipping the ball through a defender’s legs before finding Schott open on the other side of the goalmouth.

“Sometimes you just get in a struggle to get the ball in the net,” Boyd said of his team’s goal drought. “It becomes a burden that gets harder and harder to get rid of. But I’d say the dam broke today.”

Schott was quick to deflect praise toward Cabello, but she couldn’t hide the grin on her face after the game.

“Dania gave me a gift,” she said. “It wasn’t exactly a tough goal for me to score.”

Still, it had to feel pretty good for a player who entered the season as one of the nation’s most feared scorers but has been nearly invisible thus far. Schott drew a red card in the season opener that forced her out of the next game, then sprained her knee in practice and missed the next six games.

With the school goal-scoring record just six goals away and her final season waning quickly, Schott was understandably keen to get back on the field and was clearly unhappy when Boyd pulled her out for rests in both halves on Friday. She looked a bit hesitant at times against Oregon but nearly scored on two other occasions, including a shot that was cleared off the goal line.

POINT SUR — Two unarmed Super Hornet fighter jets crashed over the Pacific Ocean about 80 miles southwest of Monterey during routine training Friday morning. The Coast Guard searched for four missing members of the Black Aces squadron from Lemoore Naval Air Station.

The Navy said the two F/A-18-F jets crashed at about 9:40 a.m. while engaged in an aerial combat exercise with six other fighter jets. The two F-18s were not carrying any weapons, the Navy said.

Navy spokesman Cmdr. William Fenick said he did not know if the planes collided. It was slightly overcast at the time of the crash, according to a Coast Guard spokesman.

A Coast Guard plane and a commercial fishing vessel were at the accident scene searching for the four missing aviators, but the Coast Guard said at 2 p.m. there had been no sign of survivors or any sightings of bodies.

Officials refused to release the identities of the missing pilots, all of whom were experienced aviators who had flown F-14 Tomcats over Afghanistan, said Lemoore spokesman Dennis McGrath. Their families had been notified they’re missing.

Coast Guard spokeswoman Veronica Bandrowsky said the fishing vessel White Dove, registered in San Francisco, found a debris field one mile in diameter. The 8-ton wooden hulled boat remained at the site Friday afternoon, aiding in the search, she said.

The Air National Guard dispatched a helicopter from Moffett Field with two rescue swimmers aboard and the Navy had two ships — the USS Valley Forge, a cruiser, and the USS Howard, a guided missile destroyer — participating in the search.

F/A-18F jets, which seat two aviators, are designed for traditional strike operations and close air support. F/A class fighter jets commonly are equipped with Vulcan 20mm cannon and can carry external payloads of general purpose bombs, mines and rockets.

It was the first crash involving a Super Hornet since the Navy launched the fighter jets.

About 75 Super Hornets are based at Lemoore, the only base where they’re being flown, McGrath said. Each Super Hornet costs $57 million, weighs 33 tons and has a combat flight range of 1,275 nautical miles, according to a Navy Web site.

Measure EE, if passed, will extend to Oakland renters the same stability and security that Berkeley, San Francisco, Hayward, San Rafael and Los Angeles renters (among other California cities) have been afforded for at least a decade. Currently in Oakland, a landlord can post a 30-day eviction notice upon a tenant's door without citing a reason or cause for eviction. Measure EE simply stipulates that a reason be given for eviction, including non-payment of rent, material violation of a lease, unlawful activity, damage, public nuisance/danger and owner move-in among other reasons. This is a reasonable and fair expectation for Oakland renters, who comprise 65 percent of Oakland households. Measure EE exempts small landlords, including buildings that are owner -occupied or contain three units or less. Measure EE is endorsed by Congresswoman Barbara Lee, state Senator Don Perata, the Green Party of Alameda County and the AFL-CIO Alameda Central Labor Council.

At one point in his letter, Mr. Davis claims that Berkeley's voter-approved 1980 “Just Cause” ordinance has been a “disaster,” causing citizens to move from Berkeley. In reality, a real estate industry-backed majority on Berkeley's Rent Stabilization Board – which controlled the rent board between 1990 and 1994 – caused unprecedented renter hardship and dislocation across Berkeley. During these years, the rent board passed rent increases totaling 45 percent across-the-board, the greatest rent hikes in city history.

Until a majority of affordable housing proponents was elected to the rent board in a 1994, this was the real social and economic “disaster” at the time – a disaster many Berkeley renters are still recovering from.

LOS ANGELES — Scientists in California and Virginia will try to decode the genetic makeup of two plant-destroying microbes, including one blamed for killing tens of thousands of oak trees along the West Coast.

Backed by $4 million in federal grants, the scientists hope to sequence the genomes of the two species of Phytophthora. The most notorious of the pair is P. ramorum, which causes Sudden Oak Death syndrome.

With the genomes in hand, scientists expect they will be able to develop the means to track, detect and, eventually, treat both diseases.

P. ramorum has killed tens of thousands of black oak, coast live oak and tan oak trees in northern California and southern Oregon since it first appeared in 1995.

SAN FRANCISCO – The attorney for the son of Bay Area food critic and chef Narsai David said Friday that he may stop defending Daniel David, 36, against federal charges of fraud and money laundering because of a potential conflict of interest.

Daniel David and 38-year-old Scott Nisbet, both of Berkeley, were indicted last March on charges of creating an elaborate pay phone scam that allegedly netted them $444,000 in fees from phony 800 number calls in 1999.

Attorney Richard Hove, who has represented Daniel David since March, told U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston that “a potential conflict of interest has developed between Mr. David and myself.”

Hove, who didn't explain what the potential conflict is, told the judge that he and David will try to resolve the matter by the next court hearing. If they cannot resolve their issues, Hove said Daniel David will have a new lawyer by that time.

Daniel David will return to court Oct. 25 on the legal representation issue and again on Nov. 22 for pretrial motions.

Daniel David and Nisbet face charges of conspiracy, mail fraud, money laundering and filing a false income tax return.

Daniel David is free on a $750,000 bond that was posted by his popular father.

Nisbet is also free on a $750,000 bond that was posted by his father, retired AC Transit District general manager and attorney Robert Nisbet.

An AC Transit bus driver flagged down a Berkeley police officer at about 12 p.m. Wednesday on the 2000 block of Allston Way reporting that a male in a group of youth through a grape threw the driver’s window grazing the driver on the shoulder. According to police, the officer stopped the group, and the male admitted to throwing the grape.

Karate chop to cab

A taxi was damaged at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday when two cab drivers fought over a customer at the 2600 block of Durant Avenue. According to police one cab driver accused the other of stealing his ride.

Bicycle advocates are cheering a recent resolution that makes it all but certain that bike lanes will one day be built on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge.

The members of the influential San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission threw their support behind the bike lane project on Thursday and passed a resolution asking Caltrans to build the lanes after the bridge's seismic retrofit is finished.

The next step, according to bike advocates, is for Caltrans to set aside money for the project with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the agency responsible for funding projects on the bridge.

“This is a huge leap forward for the project,” said Deb Hubsmith, executive director of the Marin County Bicycle Coalition. “(Bike lanes) will provide a needed alternative to the automobile while also providing for a healthy commute with stunning views of the Bay.”

The commission resolution came after several California state legislators lobbied for the lanes along with the Marin County Board of Supervisors.

SANTA CRUZ — Students at the University of California, Santa Cruz, are thinking meat and doughnuts as they mull over what restaurant should replace a vegetarian restaurant that closed this summer.

In-N-Out Burger and Krispy Kreme appear to be at the top of the list for students asked Thursday what they’d like to see replace the Whole Earth restaurant.

“In-N-Out would be packed 24/7,” said junior Danny Ambrose.

“Everybody likes them,” senior Vicky Tarumoto concurred.

There are other suggestions being floated around campus, including Italian and Mexican food restaurants.

The campus is famous for its vegetarian tastes among students. The Blue Sun Cafe, purveyors of tempeh reubens and tofu scrambles, has been invited to bid for the new open restaurant space.

Steven Shabry runs the cafe, but hasn’t decided whether he’ll bid.

“I’ve got friends who say we should entertain the notion,” he said. “We’re a vegetarian place in a town that is not really vegetarian, but everybody seems to like our food.”

Camping ban on the beach

EUREKA — Humboldt County officials are considering a camping ban for Clam Beach as they’ve grown tired of visitors who litter the beach and don’t pay their camping fees.

Some homeless people have taken to extended camping in Clam Beach County Park as a form of refuge, but the debris they leave behind has county officials concerned.

“It’s become a place where you can camp free if you’re streetwise,” said Don Tuttle, Humboldt County deputy public works director. “And I’m not comfortable with having some of my staff members out there in the dark trying to collect fees.”

It’s the second crackdown to be considered on area beaches. Earlier this year, the county passed an ordinance that limited traditional beach uses in order to protect the Western snowy plover. The plover nests on Clam Beach during the summer.

Some residents, however, said the ordinance was too restrictive since it banned some horseback riding in the area.

Northern schools falling short

of state standards

SANTA ROSA — North Coast schools are falling short of academic growth targets according to preliminary results.

Thirty-eight percent of Sonoma County schools made their growth targets. In Mendocino County 19 percent achieved their targets and Lake County schools reached 26 percent of their academic growth goals.

The North Coast schools perform lower than the entire state, where 53 percent of all schools met their targets last year.

Above-average schools may not be compelled to raise test scores, even if they fail to reach a state-imposed academic target, said George Romero, assistant superintendent for Sonoma County schools.

“If they’re doing well, there isn’t as much pressure to improve,” Romero said.

NEWARK — The three men charged with murder in connection with the killing of a 17-year-old boy who sometimes passed as a girl made their first appearance in Alameda Country Superior Court in Fremont Friday, but did not enter pleas.

On Wednesday, law enforcement agents unearthed the body of Edward Araujo of Newark, who had been missing for two weeks, from a gravesite in the El Dorado County wilderness east of Placerville.

In court Friday, murder charges with a special hate-crime enhancement were read aloud to the suspects, Michael William Magidson, 22, of Fremont, and Jose Antonio Merel, 22, of Newark, who stood handcuffed, shackled and outfitted in red jail suits, and Jaron Chase Nabors, 19, of Newark, who was dressed in street clothes and unrestrained.

As Judge Dennis J. McLaughlin pronounced the charges, Jose Merel shook his head, closed his eyes, and then lowered his face, the only visible reaction among the defendants.

A fourth man, Paul Richard Merel, 25, the brother of Jose Merel, was taken into custody Wednesday in connection with Araujo's killing, but has since been released without being charged.

According to police, Araujo was reported missing by his mother, Sylvia Guerrero, Oct. 5 when he failed to return from a late-night party held two days prior at 37147 Saint Matthew Drive, the home of Jose and Paul Merel.

During the party it was discovered that Araujo was actually a boy, prompting a group at the house to fall upon him, beating him and choking him with a rope him until he died, according to an affidavit police used to obtain a search warrant. The affidavit also said that Sylvia Guerrero told police her son was a “cross-dresser” and sometimes went by the names Gwen, Wendy and Lida.

Nabors told police in an interview that Araujo's body was wrapped in a blanket and driven in the back of a pickup truck to the Silver Forks campground in the Sierra foothills where it was buried.

Over the past two weeks investigators had followed leads in the case and interviewed potential witnesses but a break did not come until Wednesday, when Nabors lead detectives to the corpse in El Dorado County.

Araujo was found wearing women's clothing when his body was removed from the grave, the Alameda County coroner said. A preliminary autopsy indicated that he suffered from blunt trauma to his head. Court records stated that Araujo's hands and feet were bound.

In the back row of the courtroom in Fremont Friday, Araujo's aunt, Imelda Guerrero, sat through the short proceeding. Outside of court she described her nephew as a “typical teenager” who loved music and was a big fan of Gwen Stefani, lead singer of the rock group No Doubt.

Guerrero said Araujo's family is focusing now on putting him to rest and burying him with dignity, and she refused to comment her nephew's lifestyle.

She said she is expecting the killers to be held accountable.

“They're going to pay for what they did,” she said.

Nabors' attorney, Robert Beles of Oakland, told reporters that his client is a college student with no violence in his background. He said Nabors is not homophobic.

NEW YORK — Momentum from Wall Street’s October rally lifted stocks Friday and gave the major market indexes their second straight winning week — the first such streak in two months. Despite an early decline, many investors resisted the urge to take profits.

The gain was surprising given stocks’ recent big ride, which sent the Dow Jones industrials soaring more than 1,000 points in a week. Analysts expected the market to give up more ground.

“We have gone from being extremely oversold to very overbought. It is due for a rest,” said Brian Bush, director of equity research at Stephens Inc.

The Dow closed up 47.36, or 0.6 percent, at 8,322.40 after having fallen as much as 127 points in the early going. In the past seven sessions, the Dow has climbed 1,036.

All three gauges had their second consecutive winning week, something they last accomplished in the two weeks that ended Aug. 24. The Dow finished the week up 6 percent, while the Nasdaq rose 6.4 percent and the S&P climbed 5.9 percent.

Analysts and investors say they are hopeful stocks are finally moving up from some dismal lows. The market has been making surprisingly strong upward progress since Oct. 9 when the Dow fell to a five-year low, joining the S&P. The Nasdaq was at a six-year low.

But analysts and investors also remain cautious due to lingering doubt about the pace of recovery of earnings and the economy.

But the advance was curbed by some profit taking. Shares of companies that posted better-than-expected earnings results this week, such as General Motors and Johnson & Johnson, fell as investors cashed in some gains. GM fell $1.09 to $34.31, while J&J declined 85 cents to $59.35.

The market fought hard to advance Friday after rallies Tuesday and Thursday, when the Dow soared 378 points and 239 points. Analysts said there is still skepticism in the market as past rallies have been cut short by disappointing economic and earnings news.

“We just have to wait a few more trading sessions to see if we have a more positive tone,” said Stephen Carl, principal and head of equity trading at The Williams Capital Group.

The Russell 2000 index, the barometer of smaller company stocks, rose 0.80, or 0.2 percent, to 363.37.

Advancing issues were even with decliners on the New York Stock Exchange. Consolidated volume was light at 1.74 billion shares, down from Thursday’s 2.21 billion.

The Labor Department reported that consumer prices increased a moderate 0.2 percent in September. The rise in the Consumer Price Index, which is the government’s most closely followed gauge of inflation, was in line with economists’ forecasts.

STANFORD — A delicate balance must be struck to protect the United States from another terrorist attack without violating the civil rights of Muslims here, FBI Director Robert Mueller said Friday.

Speaking at Stanford University, Mueller said that as head of the nation’s lead agency handling counterterrorism he is wrestling with dilemmas finding that balance.

“The overwhelming majority of Muslims in this country and around the world are peaceful, law-abiding citizens. A small number of Muslims, however, are members of radical fundamentalist sects sworn to the destruction of the United States,” he said. “This presents a dilemma for those charged with protecting against the next attack, raising difficult investigative issues for which there often is no clear answer.”

Jean Hardisty, president of Somerville, Mass.-based Political Research Associates who has been studying post-9-11 policies, said Friday the Bush administration is failing to find balance between security and freedom for all Americans.

“In my position as a middle-class, white, professional woman I don’t think my rights have been substantially impacted,” she said, “but for people who are more marginalized in society, for example immigrants of any status, are in a much more precarious position about having their freedom protected and their civil liberties protected,” she said.

Since the terror attacks, there have been a series of federal actions, laws and new regulations that have drawn criticism from some civil rights activists.

Federal authorities have detained more than 1,000 unidentified terrorism suspects, many of them for months. Agents have also listened in on conversations between detainees and their lawyers, questioned thousands of young Middle Eastern men who recently entered the country and tried noncitizens accused of terrorism in secret military tribunals.

The U.S.A. Patriot Act approved a year ago included a wider use of roving wiretaps and the ability to subpoena email records provisions.

And in May 2002, the Justice Department announced guidelines letting FBI agents investigating terrorism to monitor public gatherings, more closely scrutinize Internet usage, and send undercover agents into houses of worship without having clear prior evidence of possible criminal activity.

The new guidelines set aside restrictions adopted in 1976 intended to curb practices associated with the FBI under former Director J. Edgar Hoover, including infiltrating left-wing groups and harassing such civil rights leaders as Martin Luther King, Jr.

This week in Washington D.C. the American Civil Liberties Union launched a public advertising and lobbying campaign to press policy makers to revise some of the laws and policies passed after the terror attacks that they say do damage to civil rights.

“We will work tirelessly so that our safety can be guaranteed simultaneously with our right to say what we want, befriend whoever we want, worship however we want and be who we are without fear that our lawful actions will land us on the governments radar screen,” said Laura Murphy, director of the ACLU’s Washington legislative office.

Murphy said the Justice Department needs to reverse some of its new, more lenient guidelines.

The ACLU also is pushing for judicial review before wiretapping, and says there should be no indefinite detention for non-citizens who are not dangerous. In addition, the ACLU said that dissident groups engaging in lawful activities — such as Operation Rescue, Greenpeace and PETA — should not be swept up in an overbroad definition of domestic terrorism.

“Now more than ever, it is necessary to stand up for the Bill of Rights. We strongly believe that it is patriotic to question the actions of an overreaching government — one that seems determined to eliminate crucial checks and balances on its authority,” said Murphy.

Mueller said he believes the United States needs to be careful not to be “too aggressive” and he agrees this is not the first time in U.S. history that conflicts have led to restricts on civil rights.

“As you know, our nation does not have an unblemished record protecting Constitutional freedoms during times of crisis,” he said.

Woodrow Wilson’s Espionage Act during World War I, upheld by the Supreme Court, banned statements that might interfere with military operations. And in World War II, more than 100,000 Japanese and Japanese-Americans were sent to internment camps.

Mueller said he knows he will be judged by history, “not just on how we disrupt and deter terrorism, but also on how we protect the civil liberties and Constitutional rights of all Americans, including those Americans who wish us ill,” he said.

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court on Friday upheld former President Clinton’s orders protecting 2 million acres of federal land in five western states through the creation of national monuments.

The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirmed lower court rulings that dismissed challenges to Clinton’s designation of the monuments under the 1906 Antiquities Act, which allows presidents to act without congressional approval to safeguard objects of historic and scientific interest.

The monuments affected are: the Grand Canyon-Parashant, Ironwood Forest and Sonoran Desert national monuments in Arizona; Giant Sequoia National Monument in California; the Canyons of the Ancients in Colorado; the Cascades-Siskiyou National Monument in Oregon; and the Hanford Reach in Washington.

LOS PADRES NATIONAL FOREST — A second California condor hatched in the wild has been found dead here, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said.

The death of the 5-month-old bird leaves just one chick of the original three left in the wild. Two weeks ago, the first condor to hatch in the wild in nearly two decades was found dead.

The latest death was discovered Tuesday by a biologist watching the chick in a cave in the Sespe Condor Refuge, located deep in the Los Padres National Forest. Biologist Allan Mee said he hadn’t seen any signs of the bird and thought it might have flown away.

“But when the father pulled the chick out of the shadows of the cave, I realized it was dead,” he said.

A cause of the bird’s death has not been determined.

Biologists were trying to reach the dead animal Thursday after a U.S. Forest Service helicopter was turned away by fog. The bird will be taken to the San Diego Zoo to undergo a necropsy.

Biologists said the bird’s mother had elevated levels of lead in her blood. Both parents were susceptible to lead poisoning because they foraged for food, and could have passed the lead on to the chick, they said.

The father of the chick that died earlier this month is missing and presumed dead. That bird was found dead on a ledge on Oct. 4.

That chick’s hatching was considered a milestone in the condor breeding program.

SAN FRANCISCO — If you’ve got some unwanted World Series tickets, why unload them for just a few thousand bucks?

Some ticketholders are offering trades for a Mercedes, a job offer, or even a supply of healthy sperm.

Or maybe you need tickets?

Demand is intense, so you’d better offer something good to compete with these deals: a week at a Caribbean beach house, 50 hours of professional massage, or the services of “a very experienced, skilled defense attorney.”

Every World Series generates a frenzy for seats. What makes the Giants-Angels affair unusual is that, thanks to the Internet, scalping has gone from straightforward price-gouging to a bizarre public swap meet.

Street hustlers will still be at the games, offering outrageous prices. But for real jawdroppers, check out Craigslist, an online bulletin board based in San Francisco.

It’s the Internet, so not everything is what it seems. Still, postings reflect a sellers-market delirium.

At face value, the best tickets at both Pacific Bell Park and Edison Field are worth $175. But most offers in the Los Angeles Times classifieds asked at least $500.

But the ticketless have offered everything from professional services (wedding videography and new hardwood floors are among the legal ones) to earthly possessions (plane tickets, wine, gourmet meals) to dates (“WILL DO ANYTHING ... I MEAN ANYTHING TO GO.”)

One even offered a healthy kidney, as long as the ticket holder paid surgical costs.

Jennifer Murnin, 37, a massage therapist from Sonoma County, was hoping some stressed fan would trade two tickets for 50 hours of rubdowns — a $2,500 value.

“There’s more people that need massages today than need a healthy kidney, so I’m optimistic,” she said. By Friday morning, she said she had a few feelers from ticket holders.

“I am currently trying to get pregnant and for reasons that are none of your business,” wrote one woman, is willing to give up upper-deck seats for healthy sperm — a donation that would “positively NOT be made the ’old-fashioned way.”

Twelve of Berkeley’s 16 public schools scored higher on the state’s Academic Performance Index (API) standardized testing system last year than they did the previous year, according to California Department of Education data released Thursday. But only four schools, or 25 percent, met growth targets laid out by the state.

By contrast, nearly 70 percent of schools across the state improved their API results and 53 percent met growth targets.

Three of the four would be eligible for state financial rewards in a normal year but this year the state legislature, faced with a $24 billion budget shortfall, cut funding for the awards program.

The schools that did not meet targets face no immediate state sanctions, but some schools may face federal sanctions. (See adjacent story.)

The number of Berkeley schools reaching growth targets – for the overall school as well as for racial subgroups and the economically-disadvantaged – has steadily declined since 2000, when the API growth measures first went into effect.

In 2000, 12 of 15 Berkeley schools met targets. In 2001, 5 of 16 hit the mark. The decline matches a statewide drop-off and Berkeley Board of Education member Ted Schultz said he was not surprised by the latest results.

“Early on, a lot of schools were making their targets more easily because the obvious stuff was put in place,” he said. “It’s not surprising that there’s not as much improvement as in previous years.”

The API combines results from a nationwide test, the SAT-9, and the California Standards Test in English Language Arts, tailored to California-specific curriculum standards. New tests, like the California High School Exit Exam, will be added to the API next year.

Each school receives a score ranging from 200 to 1,000, with a statewide goal of 800. Each year, to reach its growth target, a school must increase its API score for the whole school, the economically-disadvantaged and any numerically-significant racial subgroups.

Specifically, a school as a whole must improve its score by 5 percent of the difference between its previous API and the state target of 800. The racial and economically-disadvantaged subgroups must improve scores by at least 80 percent of the overall goal for a school.

Eight Berkeley schools, including Berkeley High School and the now-defunct City of Franklin Elementary, improved their API scores but did not make all their targets.

College Avenue is a great place to take an autumn walk. The restaurants are bustling, yellow leaves collect on the ground, and pumpkins peek out from storefronts. Midst all of this, drivers idle their cars in traffic while people old and young sit helplessly on benches, waiting for mythical AC Transit buses to appear.

I believe there are several factors contributing to the traffic mess on College Avenue. First, AC Transit bus service is abysmal. The socially-conscious bus rider is rewarded by buses that arrive 15 or 20 minutes late. The line 51 buses are usually crowded and are very often so full that they cannot accept any more riders. Plus, buses get stuck in the same traffic as cars. Is it any wonder that so many people are saying no to public transit and choosing to drive in cars that are always ready to go and never crowded?

Another factor contributing to congestion is driver-be-damned traffic engineering. Many good alternate routes around the College Avenue mess have been blocked by the city of Berkeley, so these streets sit empty while College chokes with pollution from idling engines. The city should recognize that cars are, unfortunately, a necessity for most Berkeley residents. Blocking off side streets creates some quiet for a few lucky and politically-active residents at the expense of everyone's ability to breathe cleaner air, travel more quickly, and use public streets paid for with public taxes.

The city should also install turn lanes on College Avenue at Ashby Avenue. Traffic backs up there for blocks while frustrated motorists dodge and weave around cars trying to turn left. The installation of turn lanes would greatly reduce this problem.

Some people argue that the solution to traffic problems in Berkeley is to curtail development. This is a hollow “not in my backyard” position that ignores the reality of outrageous rents caused by a severe market shortage of apartments and homes. The only winners in the no-development game are landlords and those lucky enough to already own a home. Everyone else loses.

We do not have to take traffic congestion, pollution and astronomical rents for granted. The solution to these problems, on College Avenue and elsewhere, is to improve public transit and traffic management while aggressively promoting development of transit-oriented housing.

Surfers all have a common bond: the love of waves. But for pro-surfer-turned-musician Jack Johnson and many of the people that have stepped into his life, the bonds go beyond that.

“I could trace everything back to surfing, all the nice things that have happened,” Johnson said.

His chance meetings with fellow surfers have blossomed into great success beyond the beach in an arena that was once foreign to Johnson – music. For the singer and guitarist, who is the highly anticipated act at the Greek Theatre tonight and Sunday, misfortune became fortune. When a surfing accident landed him into the hospital, a friend bought him a guitar and he discovered that he was a lot better at playing the instrument than he had ever imagined. With the support of colleagues, his musical career took form.

Johnson started out in entertainment as a filmmaker. While he was making his feature “Thicker Than Water,” he would play the guitar for his friends during his downtime. He blew them away with his catchy songs and skilled guitar playing. One of those friends, Emmett Malloy, later became his manager.

“I wanted to make sure this got dealt with properly so I took it upon myself. He’s a real fragile guy – if it’s not fun for him, he doesn’t want to be apart of it,” explained Malloy.

Garrett Dutton of G. Love and Special Sauce, a blues and folk group that will take the stage with Johnson at the Greek, remembers the days when Johnson would jam with him in San Diego, after they surfed together.

“[Johnson] did a duet with me on my record ‘Rodeo Clowns”, and producers just picked it up. “We were down in San Diego, and then he just blew up,” said Dutton.

Dutton and Johnson have frequently performed together, well before they made careers of music.

“I met Jack while we were surfing. We were trying new things,” reminisced Dutton.

Both frontmen of this weekend’s acts exude guy-next-door facades. But on stage, they radiate charisma, drawing musically from blues and folk greats, but making lyrics and instrumentation their own.

“As a kid, my mom had me practice my guitar. At 13, I was still good, so I just stuck with it,” Dutton joked.

Johnson’s jam sessions with surfer friends paid off. Having known Ben Harper’s manager, J. P. Plunier from the beach, their relationship grew inside the studio when Johnson handed him a four-track tape of his music. One thing led to another, and he found himself touring with superstar Harper himself.

Originally from the tropical islands of Hawaii, Johnson now spends his days in the studio or on the road, conjuring up deliciously unpretentious lyrics against a smooth, acoustic guitar sound. When his latest album “Brushfire Fairytales” hit the stores, it didn’t blow up immediately. But after national airplay, the success of the album soared to the top, selling more than 70,000 copies by the end of 2001. His style has been compared to that of Ben Harper and Willy Porter. In fact Harper is featured playing guitar on Johnson’s hit track “Flake”.

Everything was new for the musician and manager as they started talking with major labels. They didn’t have experience in the music industry, so they just played it by ear, which ended up being a lot more fun, and lucrative.

“We’d go into these meetings and neither one of us knew anything about the music industry. We’d just go in and sit there and talk to people. It was all just kind of fun,” said Johnson.

Die-hard Jack Johnson fans are rather disappointed at the musician’s move towards a more “mainstream sound” in order to appeal to a wider audience, a change noticeable in his progression to Brushfire from earlier albums.

“I liked his music better when it consisted of simple lyrics that spoke more of the mundane, unnoticed details of life,” said surfer Cindy Yang. “He’s moving away from his style from the days when he had a large independent following in San Diego into a sound that more can relate too. Although I’m disappointed, I still want to see him in concert.”

Johnson will be performing at sold-out shows this Friday and Sunday.

“We will play hits people know and try to mix things up. We just played a set with Jack today. Everyone’s playing well,” said Dutton.

With his Berkeley High girls water polo team down 3-0 late in the first quarter against De Anza High on Thursday, Gaebler called a timeout and gathered his team in a corner of the Willard pool. Although what he said wasn’t audible outside the meeting, whatever Gaebler said had an undeniable effect; the Yellowjackets (5-4 overall, 4-3 ACCAL) outscored De Anza 9-4 the rest of the way to claim a 9-7 win in Berkeley’s ACCAL regular season finale.

“I just reminded the team about what we worked on in practice,” Gaebler said. “When we started to play like we practiced, we got a lot better.”

Most of the adjustment came on defense, where Gaebler’s girls worked hard to limit the shots of De Anza stars Jenna Casady and Julie Galvan. Although the duo combined to score six of their team’s seven goals, the Jackets pushed Galvan further and further away from the Berkeley goal as the game went on and kept a tight watch on Casady, who is the league’s best scorer from the outside. No De Anza player other than Galvan or Casady scored until there were just 10 seconds left in the game.

“Casady is probably the best player in the league, so I just told the girls to clamp down on her no matter where she was,” Gaebler said.

While the De Anza (8-6, 2-4) attack stalled with their two best players blanketed, the Yellowjackets took advantage of their opportunities, converting all three man-up situations into goals and counterattacking well. Junior Carina Degenkolb led the way with five goals, including two power play scores, while Sade Bonilla and Lana Tilley each scored twice. Bonilla also played great defense on Galvan in the hole, and Berkeley goalkeeper Perry Kramer stepped up her game after giving up two soft goals in the first period.

The turnaround came in the second quarter, as Berkeley scored five straight goals to take a two-goal lead. The Jackets also got a bit of luck, as three De Anza shots hit iron during that stretch. Although Galvan scored with less than a minute left in the half to pull her team within a goal, momentum was clearly on Berkeley’s side.

The third quarter was quiet, with the teams trading goals before Galvan was ejected for an intentional foul. Bonilla scored on the ensuing power play, and the Dons never got within a goal again.

Berkeley will likely head into the ACCAL tournament in two weeks as the No. 4 seed, with De Anza or Alameda its likely first-round opponent. Gaebler considers the tournament to be wide open, with six of the eight teams having a legitimate shot at the title.

Berkeley school officials are concerned that Rosa Parks Elementary School, despite substantial improvements in its Academic Performance Index (API) scores, could face a major shake-up next year under President Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” legislation signed in January.

The law requires schools that repeatedly fail to make adequate progress on standardized tests to undergo significant reforms, such as a replacement of large sections of the school’s staff or appointment of an outside expert to advise the school on its progress.

Rosa Parks far exceeded a state target for API improvement last year, and met goals for all numerically-significant racial subgroups at the school. But in order to officially meet state API growth goals, a school must improve as a whole, among racial subgroups and among economically-disadvantaged students. Rosa Parks fell one point short of meeting its target in the economically-disadvantaged category.

Rosa Parks administrators could not be reached for comment. But board of education member Terry Doran said it would be unfair to require a major overhaul at Rosa Parks because of one point.

“It feeds my criticism of the whole testing mania in the state,” he said. “I don’t think it adequately interprets the successes we do have in our schools.”

But state officials suggested there could be some wiggle room for Rosa Parks and the school may be able to avoid significant change.

The “No Child Left Behind” law requires weighty reform for any schools that fail to make “adequate yearly progress” on standardized tests several years in a row. The severity of the reform mounts with each passing year.

The California Department of Education has used API growth target figures, like those released Thursday, to determine “adequate yearly progress” up until now. Under that system, Rosa Parks would apparently face a significant overhaul.

But California Department of Education officials said they might adjust the way they look at API and measure “adequate” progress in the coming months. A decision is expected in January.

Furthermore, individual schools have a right to appeal individual test scores. Berkeley’s Associate Superintendent of Educational Services Chris Lim said the school district might pursue the appeal route.

But if the current system holds, the Berkeley Unified School District would have to impose one of six reforms on Rosa Parks next year. The options include replacing large sections of school staff, putting a new curriculum in place, decreasing the principal’s authority, appointing an outside expert to advise the school on its progress, extending the school year or school day or restructuring the school’s internal organization.

If Rosa Parks fails to meet growth targets again on the next round of tests, reform options include reopening as a charter school and state takeover.

The Attorney General set aside guidelines that restrict the FBI's surveillance of religious and political organizations in the United States. Critics from all points on the political spectrum are concerned that this action, taken without consultation with Congress or civil liberties organizations, is severely flawed.

This is a critical concern. Please understand, this is a threat to our civil liberties. This is specifically targeted against Arab Americans and Muslims, regardless of citizenship status. Our meetings, electronic communications, personal data, religious services, social gatherings and databases are now fair targets for investigation.

My question is: Where are our civil Liberties going to be five years from now?

NEW YORK — If “The West Wing” were the real White House, glum-faced presidential operatives would be obsessing over worrisome poll numbers.

The Emmy-winning political drama’s decline in popularity is the most puzzling and dramatic example among a handful of established NBC programs that have suffered sluggish starts this television season.

“The West Wing” ratings are down 23 percent compared to the first three episodes last year, according to Nielsen Media Research. “ER” is down 15 percent. After a fast start with Niles and Daphne’s wedding, “Frasier” has sunk. “Providence” is off 19 percent.

“A network always needs to be concerned about the health of their returning series, simply because they are the pillars of their schedule,” said Stacey Lynn Koerner, a television analyst for Initiative Media. “It’s a lot easier to replace a new show that is not living up to expectations.”

ABC is still trying to recover from a ratings free fall after established hits like “The Drew Carey Show” and “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” swiftly lost favor last fall.

No one suggests such a dire forecast for NBC, since it’s a solid No. 2 to CBS so far this season and No. 1 in the 18-to-49-year-old age demographic it is most concerned about.

But the numbers have been noticed.

“Everyone is trying to write the ‘NBC cracks’ story, but we’re in a different universe. We’re happy,” said NBC Entertainment President Jeff Zucker on Wednesday. “There’s no question that ‘The West Wing’ is off to a slow start and ‘Frasier’ is down. Beyond that, we’re thrilled.”

NBC is particularly pleased with its performance on Sunday nights with the new “American Dreams” and on Monday nights with “Fear Factor,” he said. And Zucker noted that “ER,” which was seen by 24.7 million viewers last week, has been able to stay among TV’s top shows despite cast defections, including Anthony Edwards at the end of last season.

“‘ER’ is probably our biggest success story of the season,” he said.

Theories about “The West Wing” abound: viewer exhaustion with politics, critics who say its quality has slipped. NBC is facing tougher competition in the time slot, particularly for young viewers, with ABC’s “The Bachelor” and the WB’s “Birds of Prey.”

Even though “The West Wing” hit Nielsen’s top 10 last week, “The Bachelor” won among viewers age 18 to 49.

“Given the tremendous competition for young adults in that hour, this is probably a realistic place for the show to be,” Zucker said.

Ironically, the show’s slow start may end up helping NBC financially: NBC and the show’s producer, Warner Bros. Television, need to reach a new agreement to extend the show beyond this season.

Some of the other NBC shows are showing their age. “Frasier” is in its 10th season and “ER” is in its ninth. “Providence,” which was on the fence for renewal before this season, began in January 1999.

The age-defying “Law & Order” franchise is becoming a bigger part of NBC’s success, said analyst Marc Berman of Media Week Online.

One of Cal head coach Jeff Tedford’s main contributions to the Golden Bear defense was to insist on more help from his safeties in the passing game. But that ideal may be thrown out the window Saturday against UCLA.

After surrendering 176 yards to USC tailback Sultan McCullough and with the sometimes-smashmouth UCLA Bruins up this weekend, Tedford will likely ask defensive coordinator Bob Gregory to sneak at least one safety near the line of scrimmage, or “in the box,” for the majority of the game. UCLA is averaging 161 yards per game on the ground, second in the Pac-10, and has a trio of talented tailbacks that can carry the ball. The breakout star thus far has been freshman Tyler Ebell, who has rushed for 322 yards in UCLA’s last two games, but backups Akil Harris and Manuel White are also capable of breaking big plays.

Even in the pass-happy Pac-10, the running game is still a top priority for most teams.

“Every game our emphasis is on stopping the run,” Cal linebacker Paul Ugenti said. “We want to force teams to pass on us to make yardage.”

Of course, UCLA also has some talented receivers who are capable of making big plays as well. Moving a safety out of the coverage scheme will leave Cal’s cornerback’s in one-on-one situations against wideouts Craig Bragg and Tab Perry, as well as create a seam for tight end Mike Seidman. That trio has combined to catch 11 touchdowns this season.

If Gregory does indeed put an extra defender in the box against UCLA, Cal’s cornerbacks are confident they handle whatever UCLA throws at them. After all, they were left in similar situations for the past two seasons in former defensive coordinator Lyle Setencich’s aggressive defense.

“It won’t be much different from what I’m used to,” cornerback James Bethea said. “That’s all I’ve done since I got here.”

Throwing a monkey wrench into the mix is the absence of backup cornerback Harrison Smith, who is out for the season with a broken shoulder. That leaves only special-teams maven Mike McGrath as a backup, although rover Nnamdi Asomugha has been seeing time on the corner in an attempt to match up with bigger wide receivers.

But when Asomugha is at cornerback, true freshman Donnie McCleskey steps into the all-important rover spot, and his inexperience and lack of speed could hurt the Bears. It’s a tough call: leave Asomugha at his normal position and hope Bethea and Jemeel Powell can play big, or put in McCleskey and live with freshman mistakes. If Asomugha lines up at rover, it’s more likely Gregory will keep him back in coverage to protect his cornerbacks and hope the Bears front seven can improve on last week’s effort.

“It’d be nice to know we have more support from the back row, but our main objective is to stop them in the front,” defensive end Tully Banta-Cain said. “Hopefully we can play well enough that we don’t need extra guys to help us.”

Notes: Tedford said junior wide receiver Chase Lyman may finally be ready to play following a hamstring injury, but Lyman may choose to utilize his redshirt year. With starter Geoff McArthur still affected by a nagging leg injury, Lyman is needed for depth. “I think he’s ready to play, but I can’t force him to get in there,” Tedford said. “I want him to contribute to the team this season, but he doesn’t want to use a year [of eligibility] for just five games.”... Tailback Joe Echema, who was the top runner in spring camp, is on the comeback from a severe knee injury suffered in the fall. Echema had set Saturday’s game as a target return date, but likely won’t play at all this season... Tedford had an hour-long conversation with a Pac-10 official concerning the officiating at last weekend’s loss to USC. USC wide receiver Kareem Kelly was credited with a touchdown catch that was clearly a blown call, and there were several other plays Tedford felt were blown... Cal quarterback Kyle Boller will set a school record with his next touchdown pass. Boller is tied with Pat Barnes with 54.

With November election battles heating up, the five candidates for Berkeley’s Rent Stabilization Board may be the most confident politicians in town.

For the second consecutive election, Berkeley landlords have opted not to oppose the pro-tenant slate for five open rent board seats. Landlords have conceded the races since, to their liking, state legislation tempered city rent control laws.

The rent board, which consists of nine elected commissioners and a handful of full-time staff, was constituted in 1980 to govern Berkeley’s rent control laws. The commissioners decide the annual rent increases for controlled units, determine if landlords are entitled to rent increases if they make property improvements and act as an appeals court in landlord-tenant disputes.

Although pro-tenant candidates – selected at a progressive nominating convention in April – are assured victory, they say they have campaigned hard.

“It’s important that people know there is still rent control in Berkeley and that tenants still have protections,” said Selma Spector, who is the only incumbent running for re-election.

Joining Spector on the pro-tenant ticket are: Howard Chong, a recent UC Berkeley graduate who was appointed to the rent board last May to replace an outgoing member; Chris Kavenaugh, a former Green Party candidate for the 8th District City Council seat; Bob Evans, a tenant’s rights attorney; and Pinkie Payne, a Housing Authority Commissioner representing residents of federally-subsidized housing.

Front and center on all the candidates agendas is how to weaken the Costa-Hawkins Act, passed by the state legislature in 1995, ending rent control on vacant units, single family dwellings and all units built after 1995. Rent control continues on occupied dwellings, for which the rent board sets annual rent increases.

Since Costa-Hawkins was fully implemented in late 1998, more than 50 percent of Berkeley rental units have been raised to market rents, according to Spector. The average price of a one-bedroom apartment has jumped from $763 in 1998 to $1,202 this July, according Cal Rentals which tracks rental prices paid by UC Berkeley students.

Although the law is now seven years old, Costa-Hawkins continues to dominate Berkeley housing politics and figures prominently in November’s election.

Robert Cabrera of the Berkeley Property Owners Association insists Costa-Hawkins has been a boon for Berkeley. He noted that since developers and landlords can now get market rents for new and vacant apartments, they have incentive to put new units on the market and make repairs to older units, which he says has reduced the city’s housing shortage.

But rent board candidates say Costa-Hawkins has given some landlords the incentive to unfairly evict current tenants so they can turn around and charge higher, market rates to new tenants.

Spector said she has seen a sharp increase in cases in which landlords have pretended they needed to move in to an occupied apartment or prevented tenants from replacing a roommate to force tenants to vacate the unit so the landlord can rent it at market rates.

To combat these perceived abuses, the rent board has expanded its traditional functions and started programs aimed at making evictions more difficult and informing tenants of their rights. For instance, the rent board recently passed a rule that any roommate added within 30 days after the signing of a lease must be placed on the lease. The board also instituted a program, which was later dropped, to provide free legal representation to tenants.

Landlords, though, say these programs and rent board judicial decisions have been blatantly pro-tenant and have undermined the credibility of the board.

But Commissioner Howard Chong said the rent board has merely been fulfilling it’s duty to tenants.

“The rent ordinance is pro-tenant, so our job is to provide tenant protections,” he said.

He and his fellow candidates all want to expand pro-tenant programs.

Pinkie Payne said she wants the rent board to broaden its outreach to non-English speaking tenants who, she said, are more vulnerable to evictions. “If they know their rights then they can fight,” she said last spring.

Spector wants the rent board to beef up its monitoring of evictions in which the landlord says he’s moving in but doesn’t. She says often the landlord or a family member will pretend to move in to the unit, only to quickly rent it again at market rate.

Chong said he wanted to improve the hearing process so tenants know what to expect when they argue their cases before a hearing examiner.

Evans and Kavenaugh offered more ambitious plans.

Evans said he wanted the rent board to prohibit rent increases when landlords have already used Costa–Hawkins to increase rents above the city average.

Kavenaugh said he wanted to ally the Berkeley rent board with other municipal rent boards to lobby for the repeal of Costa–Hawkins. Spector said she agreed with the plan, but noted it would take years before a successful campaign could be mounted.

Cabrera said he feared the next rent board would continue to unfairly discriminate against property owners. “The fox is still in charge of the chicken coup,” he said. “I don’t see any fairness on the horizon.”

As you know, the city of Berkeley allows for proponents and opponents of ballot measures to write arguments for and against ballot measures. The city then sends these arguments to all registered voters.

As the authors of the rebuttal to my argument in favor of Measure O, which requires Berkeley retailers to sell only organic, shade-grown and Fair Trade coffee, you wrote “By stating that all non-certified coffee is produced under exploitative conditions, the proponent [of Measure O] is attempting to mislead voters.”

One small problem: I have never stated that all non-certified coffee is produced under exploitative conditions. What I have said is that without certification, consumers have no idea how their coffee was produced, and it may very well have been produced under exploitative conditions.

I deeply resent your comment that I am trying to mislead voters, and I am outraged that such a comment will be sent to every registered voter in Berkeley. As an attorney, I particularly value my reputation for honesty. I demand a public apology for your outrageous comments.

Dean criticized Bates, then a state Assemblyman, for using his state vehicle in March 1988 to block construction of the Foothill facility on Hearst Avenue, which currently houses 800 students.

Dean said Bates caved to neighborhood opposition to the project instead of recognizing the urgent need for student housing.

“Sometimes you have to stand up and say, ‘we’re going to build this housing,’” Dean said.

But Bates said he temporarily blocked construction because the university had failed to consult the city on its plans, not because he opposed the project.

“I support and always have supported Foothill housing,” he said.

Bates argued that his actions forced the university to come to the table and work more cooperatively with the city. But Dean countered that the city and university were already working together on the Foothill project when Bates blocked construction.

Both candidates told the student audience that they would push the university to build more housing close to campus if elected.

Bates claimed that Dean has appointed only 25 students to city commissions over the course of some 20 years in city government and pledged that, as mayor, he would appoint enough students to match the student population in the city.

Dean, who has served as a City Council member and mayor, countered that the 25 appointments came while she was mayor.

After the debate, Dean claimed that she appointed more students while serving as a City Council member in the 70s’, 80s’ and early-90s’, but said she has not totaled up the figures. The Daily Planet could not confirm the appointees by press time.

The two candidates also clashed on rent control, with Dean calling for an income test that would disqualify new, wealthy tenants.

“We’re not going to subsidize people who are wealthy,” she said.

Bates said rent control is vital in the face of “skyrocketing” rents and called for more legal defense funding for tenants facing eviction.

Both candidates supported student calls for allowing businesses south of campus to stay open later.

A generation of time has elapsed since the California state constitution was amended by the notorious Proposition 13, which cut and capped property taxes with attendant damage to vital social services. The children of those who voted for Proposition 13 are now grown and paying the price.

The public schools they attended were, and are, starved for funds. Exorbitant property taxes on current home buyers compensate for the largesse extended to large corporations and old-time homeowners. Consequently, they are taxed essentially the same amount as they were 25 years ago.

Why don’t some of the young liberal activists join together to place a repeal of Proposition 13 on the ballot?

There surely should be enough votes for its defeat from those born too late to benefit. Law students give time to the legal problems of the poor and elderly. Is there a law against those students helping themselves and their peers?

The city continued its legal fight for its living wage law last week when it filed a defense to an appeal by Marina restaurant Skates by the Bay.

Skates, which leases city-owned property and is thus compelled by city ordinance to pay employees at least $11.37 an hour, is fighting the living wage law, claiming it violates a 34-year-old lease agreement.

The city won the first round of legal fighting in March 2001, when a U.S. District Court upheld the ordinance. But Skates, owned by parent company Restaurants Unlimited, filed an appeal in the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, prolonging the court battle.

The appeals court decision is not expected for another year, but the city reserves the right to take independent action, including revoking the restaurant’s lease.

City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque refused to comment on what action the city might take. However she said the city has so far refused a request by Skates to keep its lease until the appeals court weighs in.

Skates said in its request that it would honor the living wage law if it loses in court and would pay backpay to workers. Skates has maintained a bank account, which holds the difference between its employees’ actual wages and the living wage.

Although City Council discussed the matter in closed chambers last week and would not disclose its course of action, Councilmember Kriss Worthington said the council remains unanimously in favor of moving forward to ensure compliance.

The city’s living wage ordinance was passed in June 2000 in an effort to help low-wage employees afford the area’s high cost of living. The law originally only pertained to businesses with city contracts, but in September 2000 the city amended the law to include private businesses on city-owned property in the Marina that employ more than six people and generate more than $350,000 a year.

Zack Wasserman, of Wendell, Rosen & Black LLP which represents the restaurant, says that the ordinance has created an unfair burden on businesses in the Marina, and should not apply to Skates because its 50-year lease still has 16 years remaining.

“They treat the lease as some sort of halo to protect them from city regulation,” he said, explaining that, by Skates’ reasoning, the restaurant would be immune to new environmental and safety laws as well.

Other Marina businesses such as Hs Lordship’s and the Radisson Hotel are not affected by the ordinance, because they have unionized labor.

Worthington was optimistic. He said that facing pressure, Skates would ultimately comply with Berkeley rules.

Most of all, the “homegoing” service for Bishop Roy Nichols was a time to celebrate the life of a man known for at least two monumental firsts: Nichols was the first African American bishop in the United Methodist Church and he was Berkeley’s first African American school board member.

Nichols died Oct. 9 from a stroke at 84. Services were held Thursday at Downs Memorial United Methodist Church in Oakland.

Born in 1918 in Hurlock, Md., Nichols graduated from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania and came to Berkeley in 1941, where he attended the Pacific School of Religion and earned a Divinity Degree. He became the founding pastor of the South Berkeley Community Church in 1943, a racially integrated church with white and black co-pastors. He married podiatrist Dr. Ruth Richardson in 1944. A few years later, he became founding minister at Downs Memorial United Methodist Church, a racially integrated church.

Nichols became a force in Berkeley politics in the late 1950s. While segregation was not the law, as in the South, it dominated the then-conservative, mostly Republican city.

As president of the NAACP, Nichols persuaded the Berkeley Board of Education to study segregation in the schools. A report, issued in 1959, pointed to the need for counseling for black students, hiring black teachers, teaching black history and other measures seeking to end discriminatory policies.

That year Nichols lost a bid for City Council, but in 1961, won a seat as the first African American on the school board.

“He ran for the Berkeley board of education to make a difference in the lives of children,” said Dr. Ruth Love, former schools superintendent in Chicago and former educator in the Oakland public schools. Hundreds listened at the Downs Memorial sanctuary and in adjacent rooms watching the services on closed-circuit television.

On the school board, Nichols worked for a school desegregation plan, eventually implemented, where Burbank Junior High, now Berkeley’s adult school, became an integrated ninth grade school and the three junior high schools were racially balanced.

Nichols, however, moved on before the realization of that plan. He became pastor at Salem United Methodist Church in Harlem, N.Y. The new post did not take him away from the burden of fighting segregation.

“The Methodist Church had a segregated system,” Rev William James said.

Nichols “started fighting the segregated church.”

A key part of that fight, in 1968 Nichols got the church to approve the creation of a Commission on Religion and Race. Even some blacks feared that a desegregated church was not the answer and that African Americans would not be given leadership roles in a united church, James said.

They were wrong. In 1968, Nichols was appointed bishop in the newly formed United Methodist Church. He served as Bishop of the Pittsburgh area for 12 years and served as bishop in New York until his retirement in 1984, after which he continued to preach and lecture in the San Francisco Bay Area. After a stroke in 1999, Nichols and his wife moved to San Jose.

Warren and Mary Lee Widener were among the friends attending the service Thursday. Warren Widener, a former county supervisor and former mayor of Berkeley said he and his wife met Nichols in 1959, when they came to the Downs Memorial Church and took on the task of youth advisors. Their friendship continued over almost half a century.

“He was a pastor in the old fashioned sense,” said Mary Lee Widener. “He understood human needs. He was clearly a leader and a developer of leaders. He counseled you, supported you, loved you through it all.”

Nichols is survived by his wife, Dr. Ruth Nichols, children, Melisande Schwartzfarb of New York, Allegra Lewis of San Jose and Nathan Nichols of Washington, D.C. and five grandchildren.

Drug task force officers searched a car Tuesday evening, whose driver had illegally stopped in the intersection of 67th and Sacramento streets to talk to a passing cyclist. According to police, the search revealed that the car, a teal 1990 Honda Accord, had been reported carjacked in Sacramento. Police arrested Latisha Logwood, 19, and Nakisha Harevy, 19, for possession of a stolen car. It is not known if the women are responsible for the carjacking.

n Egging continues

A family on the 500 block of Woodmont Avenue reported that their house and car were egged just prior to 11:35 p.m. Sunday. According to police, this is the latest in a rash of eggings in the Berkeley hills. A teenage girl who lives in the home and attends Albany High School said that egging is a tradition during homecoming week.

SAN FRANCISCO — The feud over Barry Bonds’ historic 73rd home run ball has gone to court, starting a flurry of arguments from both sides about what it means to be a spectator to the great American pastime and whether scuffling over baseballs hit into the stands is just the name of the game.

The debacle started last year when Alex Popov, 38, sued Patrick Hayashi, 37, after Bonds homered on Oct. 7, 2001 to finish the season with 73 home runs. Popov claims he caught the ball but then lost it after he was swarmed by fans at Pacific Bell Park. Hayashi came up with it and was whisked away by security.

“This is about America’s pastime and the dream of catching a ball, his dream turned into a nightmare,” Martin Triano, Popov’s lawyer, said Thursday in opening statements in San Francisco Superior Court.

Triano said Popov’s dream was ruined when, after he caught Bond’s ball, he was knocked over and attacked by San Francisco Giants’ fans, including Hayashi, trying to get the ball.

Hayashi’s lawyer, Michael Lee, said his client never attacked anyone and that scrambling over home run balls is just part of professional baseball’s “fan culture,” which states that a home run ball is fair game until someone has complete control of it.

“When Hayashi reached out and grasped the loose home run ball ... it was entirely fair game,” Lee said. “Now Alex Popov wants to change the rules. He now criticizes the fan culture that he was once a part of.”

SAN FRANCISCO – The San Francisco Giants made baseball history Wednesday as fans flooded phone lines and the Internet frantically purchasing available tickets in under an hour.

Now on record books as the busiest hour in the history of Major League Baseball's Web site, MLB.com, the 14,000 individual tickets for World Series games 3, 4, and 5 at Pacific Bell Park were met by a monstrous demand.

According to Shana Daum, San Francisco Giants public affairs director, the web page Wednesday experienced one million hits per minute when tickets were posted – a significant traffic increase when compared to its normal 100,000 hits a minute.

“The interest more than outweighed the supply,'” Daum said. “Fans were understandably frustrated but the demand was just too great.”

While Daum sympathizes with disappointed fans, she noted that you don't need to be a ticket holder to celebrate postseason longevity.

“We want everyone to be a part of the experience. Through pre-game rallies in the city and at the park, we have established a number of avenues for the community to appreciate Giants baseball,” Daum said.

The World Series gets under way in Anaheim Saturday at 4:30 p.m. with game 2 the following day. The Giants will host games 3 and 4 on Oct. 22 and 23. If necessary, a fifth game in San Francisco is scheduled for October 24.

OAKLAND – A leader in Oakland's Nation of Islam community pleaded innocent Thursday in Alameda County Superior Court to a charge that he molested a 13-year-old girl 20 years ago.

Yusef Bey, 66, entered the plea before Judge Allan D. Hymer in Oakland, according to Bey's attorney, Andrew Dosa of Alameda. Bey is now scheduled to return to court Nov. 14 for the setting of a pre-trial conference date.

A complaint filed Sept. 18 charges Bey with one felony count of committing a lewd act on a child under 14 in September 1981.

NEWARK — Police have arrested four men after finding a body they believe is that of a missing 17-year-old Newark boy who lived as a girl.

Police found the body Wednesday in a shallow grave in El Dorado County after being directed to the spot by a suspect a day earlier. They were withholding the boy’s name pending identification of the body.

The boy had been missing for two weeks. He attended a party in Newark on Oct. 3 where a witness saw him get into a heated argument and physical fight, police said.

The teenager, who attended Newark Continuation School, had chosen to dress like a girl “for some time,” according to Newark police Lt. Tom Milner.

“We don’t know if that’s the prime factor in the altercation or if there were other factors involved such as revenge,” he said. “These things are all definitely in play.”

Michael William Magidson, 27, Jaron Chase Nabors, 19, Paul Richard Merel Jr., 25, and Jose Antonio Merel, 24, were arrested Wednesday and were each being held on suspicion of homicide.

OAKLAND — Community groups will receive $100,000 to help increase the chances for people to tell planning agencies what they would like to see in public transportation.

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission wrote the check to The San Francisco Foundation this week. It plans to award the money in grant form to various groups throughout the San Francisco Bay area to increase community involvement.

The check comes as part of the civil penalty phase of a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco against the commission in February 2001. The suit claimed the commission was not complying with the Bay Area Air Quality Plan, adopted in 1982.

The plan was designed to bring the Bay Area into compliance with federal clean air standards by increasing ridership on public transportation. It called for a 15 percent increase over 1983 transit ridership. The suit claimed that although there has been a 30 percent population increase, ridership has stayed the same.

U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson required the commission to comply with the act by 2006.

Pacifica woman jailed for

phony bomb threats

REDWOOD CITY – A Pacifica woman accused of calling in phony bomb threats to the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco federal building last week is being held in a San Mateo County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail.

Authorities say Anita Hanson, 44, was allegedly “very drunk” when she called 911 claiming that bombs had been placed at the two locations late Thursday night and early Friday morning.

Several law enforcement agencies responded to both locations to investigate and discovered the threats were unfounded. The California Highway Patrol traced the calls to Hanson's cell phone and sent Pacifica police to arrest her.

Hanson pleaded innocent Tuesday to three counts of making terrorist threats and two counts of falsely reporting the planting of a bomb.

She returns to court for a preliminary hearing on the charges on Oct. 29.

Back to school for

drunk driving suspect

SAN JOSE — For the second time in less than a year, a Campbell woman faced a judge on drunken driving charges — but this time she agreed to have her trial set in a high school cafeteria.

On Wednesday, hundreds of students at Branham High School listened with a jury to the state’s case against Lorain Stanchina, 42. On Aug. 13, she backed into a pickup truck in a Jack in the Box drive-through and drove off when confronted by the driver.

Car accidents are the leading cause of death among 15-to 19-year-olds, with alcohol being the primary factor, according to Paul Gratz, director of the Traffic Safe Communities Network, which coordinates the trial-at-school program.

Santa Clara County is the only county in the state to host DUI trials at high schools. Branham is the fifth county high school to participate in the program the county hopes to expand.

SAN FRANCISCO — Summertime apartment rents remained stable in most major Western markets except California, where prices at the two ends of the state continued to shift in distinctly different directions, according to a report to be released Thursday.

The Los Angeles and San Diego markets emerged as the hottest rental market in a quarterly survey covering nine Western states while rents in parts of the San Francisco Bay area market slumped to their lowest levels in three years.

Outside California, rents in most Western markets changed by 1 percent or less from the same time last year, according to RealFacts, the Novato-based research firm that surveyed apartment complexes.

As of Sept. 30, the average rent in Los Angeles stood at $1,295 and the average rent in the San Diego metropolitan area was $1,137, according to RealFacts. Both those figures represented an annual rent increase of nearly 6 percent.

In the San Francisco metropolitan market, the average third-quarter rent was $1,632, a 12.8 percent decrease that rolled back prices to mid-1999 levels, RealFacts said.

The San Francisco market’s seventh consecutive quarter of rent declines reflects a steep slide in the high-tech market that has dried up incomes and demand.

Defense worker hoarding

explosives at his home

AROMAS — A U.S. Department of Defense worker who handles explosives at Fort Ord was accused of hoarding them at his Aromas home, a law enforcement official said.

Authorities said Wednesday they found a cache of explosive materials Oct. 6 in sheds outside the home of Jeffrey Dean Trebler, 38, said San Benito County sheriff’s Sgt. Wes Walker.

Deputies found the material after responding to the home on a domestic violence call.At the time, Trebler’s wife alerted them to the explosives, Walker said.

Some of the items included rocket-launcher tubes, flash and smoke grenades and detonating cord, he said.

“It was not a danger to the public unless improperly handled,” Walker said. “It was safely stored in the out buildings.”

Walker said there’s no sign Trebler had plans to use what he’d collected.

Trebler was placed on administrative leave at Fort Ord.

He told investigators his job was to accept explosives from members of the public and then destroy them, Walker said.

“The things he found interesting, he just took home rather than destroy,” Walker said.

Trebler was booked for investigation of spousal abuse and was released on bail. He was not charged with explosives violations, but deputies passed what they found on to the San Benito County District Attorney’s Office.

Reporter threatened in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES — A man was arrested and charged with threatening a Los Angeles Times reporter working on a story about an alleged Mafia extortion plot against actor Steven Seagal.

Alexander Proctor, 58, of Los Angeles was arrested Wednesday outside his home. He was charged with interference with commerce by threats of violence, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years. Proctor was being held without bail in a downtown federal detention center.

Authorities said Proctor allegedly broke the car window of Times reporter Anita Busch in June and left a package containing a dead fish with a long-stemmed rose in its mouth.

A piece of cardboard with the word “STOP” was placed on her car, which was parked near her home, according to a federal grand jury indictment.

The threats were meant to intimidate Busch in an effort to stop her from reporting the story, prosecutors said.

“The only word he used was stop,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Saunders, the lead prosecutor. “I think it’s pretty clear.”

The newspaper published several stories earlier this summer about the arrest of Seagal’s former partner for his alleged role in a multimillion-dollar extortion scheme against the actor by the Gambino crime family.

The newspaper is “very pleased with the announcement of today’s arrest,” Times spokesman David Garcia said. “The safety of our reporter has always been our greatest concern.”

ONTARIO — The lure of open space and more privacy prompted Muksit Saboor, 57, to relocate five years ago from his modest home not far from the beach to inland San Bernardino County.

“You have so much space out here, sometimes I go for days without seeing my neighbors, and I love that,” Saboor said.

Saboor has been part of a migration trend over the past two decades that has seen residents move from Pacific coastal communities to more affordable homes in the Riverside-San Bernardino area.

The population growth and its concomitant expansion of business has made the area the most sprawling metro region in the country, according to a study released Thursday by Smart Growth America. The group promotes the protection of open space, neighborhood revitalization, affordable housing and more transportation options.

The next two areas on the list are both in North Carolina: Greensboro-Winston Salem-High Point and Raleigh-Durham. Another southern metropolis — Atlanta — is the hub of the fourth most sprawling area.

The rankings were based on analysis of federal data for 83 metropolitan areas around the country.

More sprawling metro areas tend to have higher traffic fatality rates and worse pollution, in large part because of an increased reliance on cars to get to work and do errands, the report said. People drive more miles and mass transit options are often limited.

“People define sprawl and smart growth in a lot of different ways and we want to bring rigor to the debate,” said Don Chen, Smart Growth’s executive director. “What we hope people will gain is a better understanding of how sprawl affects people’s quality of life.”

The report ranked areas by population and housing density; the mix of homes, jobs and services; the availability and use of town centers or downtowns; and the street network.

Saboor, who lives in Upland near the base of the San Gabriel Mountains, said he’s made some sacrifices since he and his wife moved from Culver City.

“It’s nice living out here, but obviously there are trade-offs,” he said. “I miss the diversity of Los Angeles. It’s hard to find a jazz club or soul food restaurant out here.”

Stewart Pritikin, 65, of Ontario, has lived in the inland area for 21 years and said not enough has been done to upgrade schools, transportation, utilities and fire and police services to accommodate the growth.

“This is one of the last few places where you can buy an affordable and attractive new home. People who move here know they will have to make certain sacrifices,” said Pritikin.

LOS ANGELES — Forty alleged members of the Aryan Brotherhood, a white supremacist prison-based gang, have been indicted on racketeering charges stemming from a series of violent crimes that included 16 murders and 16 attempted murders, federal officials announced Thursday.

Thirty of the defendants are currently serving time in prisons around the country for other offenses. Eight other defendants were arrested Thursday, three in Southern California, while two remain at large, said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office.

The 10-count indictment was handed down Aug. 28 but kept under seal until Thursday. The indictment follows a six-year investigation and alleges that members of the Aryan Brotherhood murdered and committed attempted murder to control drug trafficking, gambling and extortion in the federal and California state prison systems, Mrozek said.

The gang, which was founded by white inmates in 1964, has a reputation for assaulting or murdering anyone considered a threat to the organization, including those who acted as informants for law enforcement, Mrozek said.

SAN FRANCISCO — A former Enron trader accused of masterminding a scheme to drive up energy prices during California’s power crisis pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

Timothy Belden, the former head of trading in Enron’s Portland, Ore., office, admitted to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He faces up to five years in prison and must forfeit $2.1 million.

“I did it because I was trying to maximize profit for Enron,” Belden told U.S. District Judge Martin Jenkins.

Belden’s plea is the first prosecution of anyone related to the West’s energy crisis. It’s also the first public acknowledgment by the federal government that criminal activity helped drive up power prices, a point California Gov. Gray Davis and other lawmakers have been making since the crisis began two years ago.

The case represents a remarkable evolution in the Bush administration’s attitude about the energy crisis. In May 2001, Vice President Dick Cheney said California was to blame for power shortages and soaring prices. “They caused it themselves,” Cheney said in an interview with The Associated Press.

On Thursday, Republican appointees in the Justice Department said unequivocally that criminal conduct by an Enron trader helped drive up prices.

“These charges answer the question that has long troubled California consumers: whether the energy crisis was spurred in part by criminal activity. The answer is a resounding yes,” U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan said.

Belden promised to cooperate with state and federal prosecutors as well as any non-criminal effort to investigate the energy industry. He remains free on $500,000 bail pending his sentencing next April 17.

His knowledge should help the government unravel what happened inside other energy trading companies, including Houston-based Enron, the energy giant whose collapse last year has roiled the energy industry, said Matthew Jacobs, the federal prosecutor handling the case.

Belden’s attorney, Cristina Arguedas, said he was following Enron’s instructions as he handled his trades and will “make amends for that by cooperating with the government and telling the complete truth about Enron’s actions in the California energy trading market.”

“Tim Belden is not a high-level executive who was lining his pockets out of greed,” Arguedas said. “He did his job. Tim was always honest with others at Enron about his actions, and was never disciplined by Enron.

Investigators for a state Senate committee looking into the energy market have long considered Belden a key player in Enron’s activities in California.

Belden was “the mastermind behind the strategies described” in memos that spelled out how Enron manipulated the California market, said Chris Schreiber, an attorney working with California’s Senate Select Committee to Investigate Price Manipulation of the Wholesale Energy Market.

“He’s been on our radar for a long time,” Schreiber added.

Belden is the third Enron figure to be prosecuted.

Andrew Fastow, Enron’s former chief financial officer, is accused of devising the company’s complex web of off-the-books partnerships used to hide some $1 billion in debt from shareholders and federal regulators and is charged with money laundering, fraud and conspiracy.

A once-trusted Fastow aide, Michael Kopper, pleaded guilty in August to money laundering and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

For months, federal investigators have worked with a California Senate panel investigating the state’s energy crisis about evidence uncovered in its long-running investigation of market manipulation. A federal grand jury in San Francisco has been weighing criminal charges related to the energy crisis.

Internal company memos, first released in May, describe how Belden’s trading unit took power out of California at a time of rolling blackouts and shortages and sold it out of state to elude price caps, according to documents obtained by investigators.

Enron bought California power at cheap, capped prices, routed it outside the state, and then sold it back into California at vastly inflated prices, authorities said. The sham trades were designed to circumvent the California-only price caps on wholesale energy.

The Enron memos detailing the colorfully named trading schemes “ricochet, “death star,” “Get Shorty” and others, provided prosecutors a road map that led to Belden’s prosecution.

The complaint against Belden, while omitting those names, describes some of the same practices. In one strategy, Enron created false congestion on California transmission lines and then was paid to relieve it.

In another, the company misrepresented that power sold in California came from out of state to avoid intrastate price caps. That strategy ended when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission implemented regional price caps last year.

“The conspiracy charged in this information allowed Enron to exploit and intensify the California energy crisis and prey on energy consumers at their most vulnerable moment,” said Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson, head of the Justice Department’s Corporate Fraud Task Force.

Thompson said revenues from Belden’s trading unit rose from $50 million in 1999 to $500 million in 2000 to $800 million in 2001.

California Sen. Joe Dunn, D-Santa Ana, who chairs the select committee on price manipulation, called Belden’s plea “the first of many dominoes that will fall, not only at Enron, but within other energy companies within the wholesale energy market. Tim Belden not only knows how Enron played, but how others played as well.”

Belden worked for UBS Warburg, which bought Enron’s power trading operations early this year, but left the company in September, company spokesman David Walker said.

SACRAMENTO — The maker of Skoal, Copenhagen and Rooster brand smokeless tobacco has agreed not to hand out free samples on public grounds in California, and to reimburse the state $171,000.

U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co. was giving away the samples in public areas where minors are allowed, a violation of state law, Attorney General Bill Lockyer alleged in a civil lawsuit.

The company denies the allegations in its settlement, saying it gave away about 1,400 samples at two adults-only events it believed were in compliance with state law. Both sides said they settled to avoid the cost and delay of litigation.

It’s the third such suit, and the third such resolution.

In June, RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co. was fined $14.8 million in Los Angeles County for giving away more than 100,000 free packs of cigarettes at fairs and other public events. In July 2001, Swedish Match North America Inc. settled a suit by paying the state $375,000.

In the pending settlement, the company agreed to a permanent injunction, and to pay $150,000 toward prevention programs. The balance of $21,000 will go to reimburse the state for its investigation.

POWAY — Computer maker Gateway Inc. posted a $46.8 million quarterly loss on Thursday and said tough market conditions would widen losses for the entire year.

After factoring out one-time items, Gateway said it lost 15 cents a share in the third quarter, matching Wall Street’s expectations, according to analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call.

Still, Gateway’s showing beat last year’s results. In the same period a year ago, the suburban San Diego-based company reported a far wider loss — $519 million or $1.61 per share.

Gateway officials widened the computer maker’s pretax loss forecast to between $310 million and $330 million for the year, excluding special charges. Earlier, the company estimated a pretax loss of between $200 million and $250 million.

“We are cautious on our outlook for the fourth quarter given uncertainty surrounding the economy and the holiday selling season,” said Rod Sherwood, chief financial officer at Gateway, the world’s No. 4 computer maker.

SACRAMENTO — California’s year-old Office of Privacy Protection and spate of laws give consumers more protection against identity theft and similar privacy invasions than any other state, according to a new ranking by a national newsletter.

California had shared the top position with Minnesota in the most recent previous ranking in 1999 by the 28-year-old Providence, R.I.-based Privacy Journal.

Hawaii and Minnesota also have state privacy offices, but only California’s deals solely with individual privacy, said Joanne McNabb, who directs the California office.

A complete ranking of states is scheduled for release Monday. The journal is preparing to publish a new reference book on state and federal privacy laws that will be made available to everyone and will provide more detailed information on privacy.

Gov. Gray Davis’ administration held a news conference and conference call with reporters to tout the ranking less than three weeks before the Nov. 5 election.

Administration officials and privacy advocates echoed the journal’s praise for the 13 new privacy laws Davis signed last month, and additional laws since 1999 that have further strengthend consumer privacy.

But Davis officials could not say where he stands on a bill that would have limited how companies share consumers’ financial information.

The financial services industry spent more than $20 million in campaign contributions and lobbying expenses during its successful two-year fight against the bill, giving least $1 million in campaign contributions went to Davis.

LOS ANGELES — The all-California World Series is expected to give a big boost to tourism even beyond the borders of San Francisco and Anaheim.

Visitor bureaus in the two host cities are already experiencing an increase in inquiries and expect thousands of visitors to occupy hotels and visit restaurants and shops, especially if the series goes for the full seven games.

The benefits will likely extend beyond the next two weeks as the rest of the nation sees what amount to free ads for the two cities and the state.

California tourism officials plan to run a popular television ad campaign during the games featuring celebrities like Jack Nicholson and Clint Eastwood urging folks to “find yourself here.” Look for a split-second cameo by Michael Eisner, chief executive of The Walt Disney Co., which owns the Anaheim Angels.

The Angels face the San Francisco Giants in the first game of the series Saturday.

The Anaheim Hilton is hoping to attract guests by taking ads in the San Francisco Chronicle touting special room rates. Edd Karlan, director of sales and marketing for the hotel, says he expects the games to increase his business by 10 percent.

“We’re going to do well in Anaheim because our games are all weekend games,” he said. “And yes, we’re hoping to go the full six and seven games. A long, drawn-out series will be much better for us.”

San Francisco, suffering a tourism slump and a sluggish economy, is hoping the exposure from the World Series will boost its chances to host the 2012 Olympics.

“We got the World Series, which will in turn help us get the Olympics,” said Lee Blitch, president of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce. “Everything in between is simply butter.”

One factor favoring tourism is that World Series broadcasts tend to focus more on tourist information and city vistas than other sporting events.

WASHINGTON — Six Hispanic candidates are running for Congress in California as Republicans, a symbol of hope for a party that has struggled with an anti-immigrant image.

Few expect these Republicans to win in congressional districts in which Hispanics may be a majority but registered Democrats easily outnumber Republicans.

Some Democratic Hispanics dismiss the candidates as window-dressing for a party still trying to recover from Proposition 187, a 1994 initiative that sought to bar most state services to illegal immigrants. The measure was pushed by then-Republican Gov. Pete Wilson and passed.

“Why don’t we see Republicans supporting Hispanics in races where they really have a shot to win?” said Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez, who faces Republican Jeff Chavez in the race for her Orange County congressional seat. “The answer is they don’t really want Hispanics to win. They’re not giving them the support, the dollars, the machinery.”

Still, as Republicans try to shake off the lingering effects of Proposition 187, they are looking to candidates whose mere presence on the ballot is a part of the GOP’s attempt to be more inclusive.

The issue is critically important in California, where Hispanics are expected to be the largest population group within 20 years. Hispanics have voted overwhelmingly for Democrats since the mid-1990s.

In California, where four Hispanic Republicans serve in the state Legislature, 14 Hispanic candidates are running as Republicans for Congress, the state Legislature and insurance commissioner.

Nationwide, the Republican National Committee has identified 93 Hispanic Republicans who are not incumbents seeking local, state and congressional seats. RNC spokeswoman Sharon Castillo said the list may be not be complete, and she could not provide numbers for past elections.

There also are 125 elected Hispanic Republicans at all levels nationwide, Castillo said.

Maria Garcia, a 39-year-old nutritionist and mother of six children, is typical of the Republicans who are trying to make inroads among Hispanic voters. She is running in the 51st Congressional District, which includes a slice of San Diego and hugs the border east through Imperial County.

Garcia is trying to attract Democratic voters — mainly Hispanics more conservative than Democratic incumbent Bob Filner of San Diego.

Politically inexperienced and without financial support from the GOP, Garcia contrasts her heritage with Filner’s New York roots.

“I fit the demographics of the district. It is majority Hispanic,” she said. “I have family on both sides of the border. I have been a frequent border crosser.”

Luis Vega, the Republican challenger to Democratic Rep. Xavier Becerra of Los Angeles, said the success of opposition parties in Latin America in breaking the dominant party’s hold on power also is awakening voters here.

The most visible example is Vicente Fox’s election as president of Mexico in 2000, a victory that ended the Institutional Revolutionary Party’s 71-year hold on the presidency.

“More people are realizing that one party is not the answer to all the problems,” said Vega, who calls himself a “neo-Republicano.”

Democrats acknowledge they cannot lose Hispanic support and maintain their lock on elected offices in California. Only one Republican, Secretary of State Bill Jones, holds statewide office.

But they say voters will not be taken in by symbolism and rhetorical flourishes that do not match Republican policy on such key issues as immigration and health care.

“I think in California especially, voters are wise to that game. They know with 187 and other issues that Republicans do not produce for minorities,” said Rep. Grace Napolitano, D-Norwalk, who faces Alex Burrola in the 38th Congressional District.

Two years ago, Republican congressional candidates in California included longtime TV anchorman Rich Rodriguez and schoolteacher Gloria Matta Tuchman, a leader of the campaign to end bilingual education.

Rodriguez ran a strong race in losing to Democratic incumbent Cal Dooley of Hanford. Tuchman won 35 percent of the vote against Sanchez in the same election in which President Bush won 29 percent of California’s Hispanic vote.

LOYALTON — The largest ranch in the largest alpine valley in the Sierra Nevada will be permanently protected from development under a conservation easement purchased by three nonprofit organizations.

The $2.5 million easement on the 13,100-acre Sierra Valley Ranch-Bar One Cattle Co. is the first step to protecting the 130,000-acre Sierra Valley from development, the organizations said. The valley is 25 miles north of Truckee and a half-hour drive from Reno, Nev., and is ripe for development, the groups fear.

A 1,080-acre ranch sold for $3 million in 1999, and other ranches are on the market with multimillion dollar asking prices, the groups said.

The valley ringed by 7,000-foot peaks is the largest such valley in the Sierra, and one of the largest in the nation, the groups said.

Most of the valley is divided into small ranches owned by descendants of the original Swiss and Italian immigrants who settled it in the 1860s.

The easement will keep the land as a working cattle ranch while preserving “one of the most beautiful valleys in the world,” said Bar One co-owner Jack Sparrowk.

The ranch will take steps to protect the headwaters of the Middle Fork of the American River as part of the agreement.

The pact between the ranch and the California Rangeland Trust, the Sierra Business Council and The Nature Conservancy was funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the Wildlife Conservation Board.

The rangeland trust of the California Cattlemen’s Association has similar easements on 40,000 acres and expects to announce a doubling of that acreage over the next year through pending agreements.

The groups plan a celebratory barbecue at the ranch Friday, with a goal of persuading other Sierra Valley ranchers to sign similar easements.

SHELTER COVE — When the early sunlight washed over our beach campsite on our first night on California’s Lost Coast, we could see why it’s called one of the nation’s premier hiking routes.

We could see, moreover, why this junction of ocean, dark sand and mountains is called “Lost.”

It’s not really lost. It’s as isolated as a long stretch of California coast can get.

The steep mountains plunging into a deep sea along a trail made impassable by tides has repulsed plans for highways, development and businesses.

As the September morning sunlight burned off the mist, our group of four could see long wide beaches and mountains stretching for miles with no sign of human intervention.

What we couldn’t see was how grueling the flat terrain can be for hikers.

Our plan to cover the 25 miles of trail in three or four days didn’t sound difficult when we started out.

We were soon to discover the rugged terrain that defeated road builders can leave you exhausted from boot-grabbing wet sand, scaling wet rocks and boulders and rogue waves that can send you dashing for refuge with a 40-pound pack on your back.

An unusually warm front welcomed us with 70-degree beach weather in the morning.

Our hired van driver was waiting near the town of Shelter Cove to ferry us on a two-hour drive to the trail’s northern end.

This would allow us to walk the trail with the wind at our backs, and our car would be waiting for us when we reached the end of our trip.

We rolled into the tiny community of Whitethorn to get a stove-fire permit and bearproof food canisters at the office of the federal Bureau of Land Management.

The BLM, the agency of “leftover” lands in America’s early history, inherited the Lost Coast because the terrain was considered hostile to development.

Congress saw scenic value to the land, and in 1970 made the Kings Range, including most of the Lost Coast, the first National Conservation Area in America as it was studied for a future wilderness.

The woman at the BLM counter cautioned us sternly: Watch for bears and rogue waves, and study the tide book to know when to pass the three sections of trails that disappear and reappear daily with tides.

A little more than three years ago, a rogue wave swept three members of a school group to their deaths.

After our van drive to the northern trail terminus at Mattole south of Ferndale, we paid the driver, strapped on our packs and started out on a trail that was more sand than dirt.

Sea lions popped from the surf to check us out.

Lines of pelicans glided over the water.

Waves flung big rocks around with a gurgling noise that sounded like giant ice cubes clinking.

Driftwood and rocks covered large areas, the jetsam of fierce storms over decades.

The abandoned Punta Gorda lighthouse gave another reminder of the Lost Coast’s isolation.

Considered the Alcatraz of California’s early lighthouse system, it had no electric service even though it operated until 1950.

We reached the first tide zone at the right time of afternoon to pass, but then the hiking route turned into an obstacle course.

Rock and boulder fields were taxing as well. Hikers must lunge, leap, twist and stretch on the only path between the ocean and mountains.

We were fit but middle-aged guys reminiscing about the firm feel of a dirt trail.

We cleared the tidal area with barely enough energy to heave our packs into one of the Tinkertoy huts, erected of driftwood as refuge from the rain and winds that blast the coast.

I slept in one, soothed by the sound of the waves and the sight of a full moon arcing its way over the steep mountain to set into the ocean before sunrise.

Only one other group was camping within sight.

We marveled at how so much coast has so few signs of people.

Our second day out had more long stretches of foot-grabbing sand, creeks to ford, and large stones.

On the third day, we encountered the trickiest tidal zone of all.

One member of our group had a tidal book and global positioning system device and guided us to arrive as the tide started to recede from a narrow rocky point that waves crash against.

We waited.

I now clearly understand why Highway 1 turns several miles inland here. When Caltrans builders reached the Lost Coast, they abandoned hope of conquering the area.

We studied the pattern of waves and tried to time our scampers over the rocky point, one by one.

The waves soaked my foot as I rushed over the rocks.

We all made it past.

A few minutes later, we met a group of young men whose timing was not as good: They were soaked to the waist.

We were still enjoying our good luck with sunny warm weather that day when a fog bank moved in and cut our visibility from miles to yards.

We had planned to stay one more night.

But seeing the trail dissolve into pea soup, we decided to complete our hike early and leave the Lost Coast to the mists.

If You Go ...

GETTING THERE: The King Range National Conservation Area is 230 road miles north of San Francisco, and 70 miles south of Eureka. The Redwood Highway, U.S. 101, provides access to within 20 miles of the King Range.

GENERAL INFORMATION: Bureau of Land Management advises hikers to be prepared for vigorous exercise and fierce, unpredictable weather. Travel is especially risky in winter and spring because storms can create dangerous waves and make streams impassable.

For months, two sets of brand new, never-used traffic lights on Telegraph Avenue sat dark, mired in a debate over cars, pedestrian safety and neighborhood politics. But City Council voted Tuesday night to turn on the lights at the corners of Stuart and Russell streets in southeast Berkeley.

The decision came two years after Berkeley won a $450,000 state grant to put the lights and other “traffic calming” measures in place, and two months after a set of lengthy meetings with neighbors over the impact of the lights on local traffic patterns.

Neighbors were generally pleased with the vote to turn on the lights. But now, they’ve raised questions about the plan City Council approved Tuesday to install the other traffic calming measures, like traffic circles, covered by the grant.

City Council decided that if transportation staff wants to put traffic calming measures in place, they must poll neighbors on the affected street and an unspecified number on surrounding streets, and win 65 percent approval before moving forward.

Neighbors are worried that the process could lead to a hodgepodge approach. They predict that only a few streets will approve traffic calming measures, pushing vehicles to other streets where residents have not signed off on a traffic circle or alternative measure.

“We’re stuck with a very piecemeal plan,” said Rolf Bell, a Ward Street resident. “It’s not a good comprehensive approach for the neighborhood.”

Concerns about a hodgepodge approach motivated an alternative plan, though unsuccessful, pushed by Mayor Shirley Dean and City Councilmember Kriss Worthington, requiring transportation staff to canvass all the relevant streets in the neighborhood and then come back to City Council to present a comprehensive plan for approval.

Councilmember Betty Olds, who voted against the alternative, said it would have unnecessarily delayed the process and argued that neighbors who have concerns will come to the council anyhow.

“The neighbors will all know before something goes up and if they have complaints, they can come before council,” she said.

But Worthington argued that the “piecemeal” plan is “pretty certain to engender future conflict” among neighbors.

“The failure to do it as a (comprehensive) plan, I think, will come back to haunt us,” he said.

Funding for the traffic calming measures and the street lights comes from a “Safe Routes to School” grant from the state. Berkeley won the funding two years ago in a push to improve safety for students walking to Willard Middle School on Stuart Street and LeConte Elementary School on Russell Street.

But neighbors got wind of city plans for the traffic lights early this year, raised a series of objections and attacked the city for failing to include residents in the planning process.

In April, City Council directed the transportation department to finish construction on the lights, but prohibited staff from turning them on until completion of a thorough public process.

Three public meetings, mediated by the non-profit Berkeley Dispute Resolution Service, followed in August and September.

In the midst of the process, a group of neighbors came up with an alternative signaling pattern for the Telegraph Avenue lights. But Assistant City Manager for Transportation Peter Hillier rejected the plan, saying it was too unconventional and could lead to accidents.

Derby Street resident Wim-Kees van Hout, who took a lead role in developing the alternative signaling pattern, said he could accept a professional’s judgment about the safety of the neighborhood plan.

But van Hout said he hopes the city, in the wake of the Telegraph Avenue process, learns to include the neighborhood from the start in future traffic projects.

“I really hope that, in the future, the process will be more inclusive,” he said.

George Rose, a sixth-grade teacher at Willard who has long pushed for the traffic lights on Telegraph, welcomed City Council’s decision to turn them on.

I must applaud the recent brilliant and humane suggestion of an Iraqi official (Daily Planet, Oct. 4) for a duel between Bush and Saddam to settle their ongoing personal feud mano-a-mano.

Of course, Bush has a well-documented history of avoiding armed combat, so maybe instead of a duel, there could be a series of competitive athletic events – a sort of personal two-man Olympics. Both men are physically fit and pride themselves in their fitness.

This would be a great chance for the two leaders to “put-up or shut-up.” The events could include arm-wrestling, Indian-style wrestling, javelin throwing, swimming, weight lifting, horseback riding and other events. It would be a great matchup: the 65-year-old Saddam vs. the 55-year-old Bush. The winner would stay in power, while the loser would resign his position and take his gang/administration with him into exile.

For most people of the world, this contest and its result would be a proverbial “win-win” situation, with either the bully Saddam removed from power or the bully Bush removed from power. One down and one to go…

This traditional method of settling a personal feud would have the important virtue of saving thousands of Iraqi and American lives.

This would be the sporting event of the decade and could be shown to millions of viewers around the world. Former U. N. inspectors could be the referees and judges, while our Las Vegas bookies would be only too happy to post betting odds on each event in the match.

With his eye on the prison system Oakland singer/activist Steve Harris brings his politically-charged music and poetry to Berkeley’s La Pena Cultural Center tonight.

His new CD and book “Black Will Not Hurt You,” which will be the focus of tonight’s show, expounds upon the social criticism delivered in his radio segment Critical Resistance on KPFA’s Hardknock Radio program.

“I’m showing that African American males have various experiences and we are different individuals,” said Harris, explaining that his goal is to counter the negative stereotypes of being black.

It took two and a half years for Harris to package his mission into his latest book and CD. Harris has independently published two other poetry books and three albums.

Harris, 30, said he draws his musical inspiration from many sources including Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Buckley and Robert Johnson.

“My music is rock, soul and blues,” said Harris, who also plays guitar on his CD. “It’s social-conscious music.”

“My father spent 12 years in prison. Most of the males in my family have been in prison for most of my life. I believe the best way for me not to go to prison is for me to work at keeping these issues out there,” he explained.

“The word black is used in a very negative way,” Harris added. “Everything from expressions like ‘black sheep’ to how blacks are portrayed in literature. “I wanted to get away from that and say black is not harmful or bad.”

A two-year activist with Critical Resistance, the national organization that opposes the expansion of prisons, Harris said America needs to pay attention to how the prison system is run.

“It’s horrifying,” he said. “There are six million people in jail right now. We need to abolish prisons. It’s modern day slavery.”

Harris, who teaches after-school kindergarten in Berkeley, said he’s excited about what he believes his work can offer the community.

“I want to show that you’ve got to just be yourself,” he said.

The La Pena show will also feature the acoustic alternative hip-hop duo Bridge and Tunnel.

Someone check the fire extinguishers in the Cal locker room. They could be all used up from cooling off the Bears at halftime.

There’s no denying that the Bears have pulled a shocking turnaround this season, going from a 1-10 embarrassment to a 4-3 record and the spectre of a bowl bid a few weeks away.

But whatever the Bears have been doing in the locker room at halftime, it hasn’t been working. Cal has outscored its opponents 163-55 in the first half this season and haven’t trailed at halftime yet. Their three losses have all been the result of second-half collapses, both on offense and defense.

“We’ve talked about this as a team, and we know we need to come out stronger in the second half,” head coach Jeff Tedford said this week. “But you have to give the opposition some credit too. They see things and they make adjustments.”

According to Cal players, their coaches haven’t been making many changes to the game plan in the locker room. Then again, a halftime lead is usually a sign things are going right, so why change?

“Normally you don’t want to make too many adjustments when you’re winning the game,” cornerback James Bethea said. “We’re doing the same things we’re having success with in the first half. We just have to keep doing it right.”

But there’s little question that something must be done to shake the team’s second-half doldrums. They’ve surrendered more than twice as many points after the break as before it, including a complete defensive meltdown against Washington State in which the Cougars scored 29 points in the third quarter alone.

Interestingly, teams have attacked the Cal defense in different ways in the second half. Washington State lived in the air, throwing deep to their big receivers for big plays that went incomplete in the first half. USC, on the other hand, pounded away with tailback Sultan McCullough, who picked up 120 of his 176 rushing yards in the second half of the Trojans’ comeback win.

In all three losses, the Cal offense has sputtered just as the opposition has caught fire.

“I think teams do make good adjustments on us,” wide receiver LaShaun Ward said. “I feel like they catch on to us a little bit. But if we keep our fundamentals and do the small things, no team can stop us, even if they change their defense.”

This week will be a test of the Bears’ third-quarter composure, as UCLA has outscored its opponents 46-18 in that period. The Bruins, like most Pac-10 teams, are talented enough that one scheme isn’t enough to stop them for an entire game. They can pound the ball on the ground with three different tailbacks or go up top to receivers like Craig Bragg, Tab Perry and tight end Mike Seidman. Tedford and his coaching staff may want to spend a little more time making tweaks to their game plans to keep the Bruins from continuing an ugly trend.

About 60 pro-Palestinian UC Berkeley students and supporters gathered on the steps of Sproul Hall Wednesday calling on the university to drop conduct charges against 32 student activists who participated in the April 9 occupation of Wheeler Hall.

Just across Sproul Plaza, pro-Israeli students said the relatively small gathering was evidence that the pro-Palestinian movement is losing steam.

“They’ve lost their support,” said David Singer, co-chair of the Israel Action Committee, a student group.

“Not at all,” responded Roberto Hernandez of Students for Justice in Palestine, arguing that poor publicity for the event had limited the turnout.

Students and activists focused their speeches on the plight of Hernandez, one of 79 protesters who took over Wheeler Hall in April, calling on the nine-campus University of California to divest from Israel.

The Alameda County District Attorney dropped criminal charges against the activists in June, but the university pursued separate conduct charges against the 41 students who took part. Nine have accepted a one-semester “stayed suspension,” essentially probation, leaving 32 to face student conduct hearings.

Penalties range up to expulsion, though the administration is recommending nothing more than suspension.

Hernandez’s student conduct hearing has begun, but is on hold until at least Oct. 28, when the courts will consider a lawsuit filed by the students’ lawyers that seeks to block the use of police reports and videos in conduct hearings.

No other student hearings have started.

Hernandez is one of a handful of students who were seniors when they took part in the April occupation of Wheeler Hall. The university has blocked diplomas for the former seniors until they go through the hearing process.

Last year, Hernandez won acceptance to a UC Berkeley graduate program in comparative ethnic studies and has been attending classes this fall with the department’s permission. But he is not officially enrolled as a graduate student and has not received a fellowship that, he says, is his only substantial source of income.

Hernandez said he faces eviction from student housing because he is unable to pay rent and is not officially a student.

“I don’t even know where I’ll be this week,” said Hernandez, urging the university to provide his diploma and release the fellowship money.

UC Berkeley spokesperson Janet Gilmore said Hernandez’s economic situation is “unfortunate” but said the university has offered the student ample opportunity to resolve his case.

Gilmore said Hernandez had the option to accept an informal resolution this summer. She added that university officials, in the second day of Hernandez’s conduct hearing Oct. 4, offered to work late into the night, but the student declined.

Hernandez said he had a religious service to attend in San Jose that night and was not able to stay. He added that one of his attorneys was unable to remain on hand either.

Singer, of the Israel Action Committee, said his group is spearheading a 20-campus effort called “Invest in Israel, Invest in Peace.” Donations will go toward building the Israeli infrastructure and funding education efforts.

Singer declined to say how much money the campaign has raised but predicted thousands in eventual donations.

My opponent, Tom Bates, seems to think that every problem should be met with yet another committee meeting – an approach often used in Sacramento. It is a way of “acting” without really correcting a problem. Mr. Bates is ready to invite big names from Sacramento and Washington D.C. to come and discuss Berkeley schools - though his list of invitees omits mention of Berkeley's Superintendent, School Board or the students themselves. (Forum, October 12-13)

I do not believe that we need a “summit” with a cast of outsiders to come to Berkeley and tell us how to make changes. What we need to do is roll up our sleeves as a community and start fixing the problems. Some examples come to mind. Parents at Berkeley High approached me and complained that the school's health care clinic had been omitted from the city’s annual budget. The clinic provides important preventive health care and literally saves lives. I went to work, and we restored the clinic's funding. Again, when parents complained to me about violence at Berkeley High School, I went out and helped secure a grant to increase safety on the campus.

Understanding the need for community members to step up and help our schools, I volunteer every week as a writing coach at Berkeley High. As your mayor, in the next four years, I will work hard to restore excellence in Berkeley's public schools. By law, Berkeley’s schools are independent of the city. Nonetheless, I will continue to work with the School District's Superintendent, Dr. Michelle Lawrence, school board members, parents, teachers, staff and students to provide incentives that attract the best teachers to Berkeley. Working together, we can provide safe and clean school sites and close the achievement gap once and for all.

The Oakland Ballet’s program 2, featuring two world premieres and two company premieres, made for an entertaining evening of dance last weekend at Oakland's opulent Paramount Theatre. Of the four pieces, the most successful were Agnes de Mille's “Three Virgins and a Devil” and Mexican choreographer Gloria Contreras’ “Opus 45.”

Continuing its tradition of historically reviving works of merit, the Oakland Ballet introduced the comic “Three Virgins'” to its repertoire, complete with original costumes and sets, and with restoration works by costumer Ginger Shane and set designer David Guthrie. Gabriel Williams was an excellent devil, both dancing and acting, and the virgins – Yoira Equivel-Brito, Erin Yarbrough and guest artist Tiekka Schofield – assimilated the de Mille style beautifully.

Contreras’ “Opus 45” is a pas de deux danced by Williams and Schofield. This proved a great pairing of dancers and their performance was mesmerizing.

The world premieres were not as engaging. The evening opened with “Dei Sogni Piacevoli (Of Pleasant Dreams).” The large work for 10 dancers is by Luc de Lairesse, Oakland's ballet master in chief. Dimly lit, it was difficult to tell exactly what the dancers were doing.

The final dance, Dwight Rhoden's “Glory Fugue,” is an athletic and abstract ballet set to a pastiche of soul and classical music played at ear-splitting volume which detracted from the performance.

Chris Huffins, former NCAA decathlon champion at Cal and current assistant track & field coach at Georgia Tech, will return to Berkeley as the school’s new director of track and field and cross country, Cal Athletic Director Steve Gladstone announced Wednesday.

Huffins, a two-time U.S. Olympic decathlete who won the bronze medal at the 2000 Games in Sydney, Australia, replaces Erv Hunt, who recently assumed a new executive administrative role in the Golden Bears’ athletic department after directing Cal’s track and field program for 30 years.

The 32-year-old Huffins will direct both the men’s and women’s track & field and cross country programs.

“As we proceeded through a nationwide interview process for Erv’s successor, it became more and more evident that Chris Huffins was the ideal choice to lead Cal track and field into a new era,” Gladstone said.

Huffins has served as a major college assistant coach for the past five years. The Brooklyn, N.Y., native spent three seasons at Wake Forest as the Demon Deacons’ sprint coach from 1997-99, before joining the Georgia Tech staff in 2000, working primarily with the Yellow Jackets’ multi-event, short sprinters, throws and pole vault performers the past two years.

“This is a dream come true for me,” said Huffins. “My heart has never left Berkeley, and I look forward to building upon what Coach Hunt has achieved here at Cal and help return the track and field program to national prominence. I am also thrilled to come back and have the opportunity to complete my Cal degree, which is important to me and the university, and also sets a good example for my student-athletes.”

Huffins majored in political economy of industrial societies at Cal from 1990-93 before leaving to train for the 1996 Olympics. He is less than one year of class credits shy of earning his degree.

Huffins began his collegiate career at Purdue in 1988, but transferred to California two years later, soon blossoming into a national figure in the decathlon. As a Golden Bear, he first won the triple jump competition at the 1991 Pac-10 Championships, then captured both the Pac-10 and NCAA decathlon titles in 1993.

Huffins won the U.S. National Championship in both 1998 and 1999, and finished second at the 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials. In the ‘98 U.S. Championships, Huffins posted the then-highest decathlon score in the world.

Huffins, a member of the 1996 and 2000 U.S. Olympic teams, is a former world record holder in the decathlon 100 meters. He also earned a gold medal in setting the meet record at the 1999 Pan American Games.

As one of the current leaders of the sport, Huffins serves as assistant coach for the World Junior Championship team, as chairman of the men’s combined events for USA Track & Field, and as a member of the USATF board of directors.

“She’s always been very supportive of us. She’s really concerned about our safety and is very receptive to talking with us,” said Lt. Bud Stone, vice president of the Police Officers Association.

Lt. Rick Guzman, president of the Fire Fighters Association, credited Dean with advocating ballot measures to fund paramedic programs and remodel fire stations, as well as praised her support of the new station planned for the Berkeley hills.

The endorsements were not a surprise. Police and fire departments have traditionally supported Berkeley’s moderate faction and have endorsed Dean in all four of her mayoral bids.

Dean’s main rival in the November election, progressive candidate Tom Bates, said he was not deterred by the public safety endorsements.

“I think my endorsements are more reflective of what people want to see a candidate endorsed by,” he said.

Bates, who represented Berkeley in the state Assembly from 1976 to 1996, has garnered endorsements from the Sierra Club, the National Organization for Women, the county Green Party, the county Democratic Party, UC Berkeley Democrats and the Alameda Council of Labor, as well as numerous state and federal officials including Congresswoman Barbara Lee, D-Oakland.

Dean, though, said the fire and police endorsements could sway undecided voters.

“I think the people who provide these services are the finest in any city and they are very well respected,” she said.

Dean will have to rely on the prestige of the endorsements, because most police officers and firemen live outside city limits and are not eligible to vote in Berkeley. Of approximately 200 uniformed police officers, only 13 are Berkeley residents, according to Police Information Officer Mary Kusmiss.

Dean has failed thus far to match Bates in endorsements. Including police and fire officers, Dean has also won the support of the Berkeley Property Owners Association, the Berkeley Democratic Club, state Sen. Don Peralta, D-Oakland, and more than 30 neighborhood activists.

Dean downplayed Bates’ endorsement advantage, insisting that many of his supporters were old political allies from his time in the state Assembly, who do not reflect the views of Berkeley voters.

Bates, however, noted that as an eight-year incumbent, Dean had failed to develop strong relationships with state leaders, who he could lobby to defend Berkeley’s interests.

“Normally people default to the incumbent, but in this case it is a runaway for me,” Bates said. “I think that is a statement about my style of leadership.”

In her campaign for re-election, Mayor Shirley Dean wants credit for triggering downtown revitalization. In reality, Ms. Dean was a roadblock, not a beacon, for the progress of downtown and its arts district.

Downtown renewal got rolling with a big push from the city’s office of economic development in the latter 1980s, with leadership from then-Mayor Loni Hancock. A city proposal led to the first urban Main Street program in California, and Berkeley has gone on to win a shelf-full of awards for its Main Street implementation. Retail space vacancies plunged from 19 percent to less than 5 percent before Dean became mayor. Shirley Dean’s contribution: She annually proposed to strike the office of economic development from the city budget and attacked the Main Street application.

Dean supporters have also misrepresented the land deal that led to the expansion of the Berkeley Repertory. In reality, with critical guidance and support from then-Mayor Hancock, the office of economic development’s Dave Fogarty and I negotiated the deal to make the rep’s neighboring property available for a new theater, in exchange for reduced Rent Board penalties for the seller. The key meetings were held in my office and the details are recorded in my journal. The Rent Board merely signed off on the penalty waiver.

If all goes well, the 69 residents of UA Homes who were displaced by fire in August will be able to return home next week.

Officials from Resources for Community Development (RCD), which owns the burned three-story apartment building at 1040 University Ave., and property managers from the John Stewart Company announced Wednesday a tentative Oct. 22. move-in date.

The date, though, is optimistic, said Linda Webster, director of operations at RCD, and depends on the outcome of pending safety inspections.

“These next few days are kind of crucial,” Webster said. “Some of the last minute work is [still] being done [to make the building livable again.]”

RCD has spent more than $100,000 to house the displaced tenants, most of whom rely on federal housing subsidies to pay rent at UA Homes, said Kerry Williams, asset manager for RCD.

Berkeley law requires landlords to pay tenants the difference in rent when tenants are abruptly displaced and forced to pay more.

The fire, which swept through a light well Aug. 26, still has no known source of ignition, fire officials say. Officials, though, suspect that debris found in the light well such as newspapers and an old suitcase fueled the blaze.

The fire spread from the light well to each floor severely damaging at least eight units near the center of building. However, sprinklers kept the fire from sweeping through the rest of the structure, officials said.

“Light wells are a problem from the past. We were lucky to hold off the fire to a localized area,” said David Orth, assistant fire chief of the Berkeley Fire Department. “The building has stood up really well.” he added, explaining that a fire of this magnitude could have brought UA Homes to the ground.

The city has concerns about keeping the light wells at UA Homes safe in the future.

“It certainly raises issues for future management for keeping the light well safe,” said Steve Barton of the Berkeley Housing Authority, adding that the light wells would have to be carefully monitored. “There may well need to be some further work with the tenants.”

LOS ANGELES — With a deadly sniper terrorizing the suburbs of the nation’s capital, 20th Century Fox has decided to delay the release of a thriller about people being pinned down in a phone booth by a gunman they can’t see.

“Phone Booth,” starring Kiefer Sutherland as the shooter, was to open Nov. 15.

But the studio decided to delay its release after a sniper killed nine people in suburban Washington, D.C., according to Flo Grace, a 20th Century Fox spokeswoman.

A new opening date has not been set.

Screenwriter Larry Cohen, who wrote “Phone Booth” three years ago, has said he would not mind if the studio delayed release of the film in which the shooter lures victims inside a phone booth then threatens to kill them if they hang up.

Another movie with a similar theme, “Interview with the Assassin,” will open as scheduled Nov. 15 in New York and Los Angeles, said Eamonn Bowles, president of Magnolia Pictures, which is distributing the film.

The movie, about an ex-Marine who claims he shot President Kennedy, opens in more cities Nov. 22 — the 39th anniversary of the assassination.

“We’re monitoring the situation, but right now we plan to go ahead with the release,” Bowles said Wednesday. “Basically we’re playing it by ear, seeing what the mood of the country is like.”

“Phone Booth” was a relatively low-cost film for Fox, with a budget of about $12 million. Colin Farrel, who co-starred as an investigator in this summer’s “Minority Report,” starred in “Phone Booth” as a man singled out for attack by a shooter who wants to punish strangers for their misdeeds.

It was director Joel Schumacher’s second consecutive film to be delayed due to troubling similarity to news events.

His Anthony Hopkins-Chris Rock comedy “Bad Company,” about U.S. agents trying to disarm terrorists in Manhattan, was supposed to debut last December. After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, “Bad Company” was postponed for release until June, where the $70 million adventure collected only about $30 million at the domestic box office.

Schumacher’s agent directed calls for comment back to Fox.

Other movies delayed for months after the Sept. 11 included “Collateral Damage,” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as a firefighter seeking revenge for a terrorist bombing, and the ensemble comedy “Big Trouble,” which involved smugglers with a nuclear warhead on a jetliner. Both films also performed poorly once they finally debuted.

UNITED NATIONS — The United States came under a barrage of criticism Wednesday as the Security Council held an open debate at the behest of dozens of countries angry with the Bush administration’s threat to attack Iraq.

Key U.S. allies in the Middle East, including Kuwait — which was invaded by Saddam Hussein’s forces in 1990 — came out against the use of military force in Iraq and called on Washington to give U.N. weapons inspectors a chance to disarm the oil-rich nation.

Iraq’s other neighbors, from Iran to Jordan and the Persian Gulf states, warned that a military strike would further destabilize the volatile Middle East for years to come.

Even close friends such as Japan and Australia refrained from supporting America’s efforts to win authorization in a new U.N. resolution for a military strike if inspections fail.

But U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan supported the U.S. search for a new resolution that would toughen weapons inspections and he urged Baghdad to use this “last chance.”

The U.S. ambassador is scheduled to address the council on Thursday but in Washington, President Bush said world leaders needed to “face up to our global responsibilities.”

“Those who choose to live in denial may eventually be forced to live in fear,” Bush said, as he signed a Congressional resolution authorizing him to use force against Iraq.

The Security Council’s five permanent, veto-holding members are divided over how to proceed on Iraq now that it has agreed to the return of inspectors after nearly four years.

The United States, supported by Britain, has spent the past month pushing for a new Security Council resolution which would authorize the use of force if Iraq fails to comply with a tough, new inspections regime.

But France, China and Russia are opposed to any “green light,” that would allow the administration to attack Baghdad before its sincerity can be tested on the ground.

France has garnered serious support from China, Russia and influential Arab countries for a proposal only authorizing the possible use of force if inspectors complain about Iraq’s compliance.

Hoping to reach a compromise, the United States has been holding secret consultations with the four other major powers, to the exclusion and often frustration of other U.N. members, who feel in the dark on what could be the eve of a major conflict.

In an effort to force a public accounting on the Iraq debate, the Non-Aligned Movement of some 115 mainly developing countries called for Wednesday’s open meeting to criticize Washington’s position and its handling of the issue here. Nearly 70 countries are expected to speak over two days.

South African Ambassador Dumisani Shadrack Kumalo, whose country heads the movement, opened Wednesday’s debate by criticizing the closed-door process.

A 32-year-old East Bay woman was killed in a possible suicide attempt when an Amtrak passenger train struck her Toyota pick-up truck at Camelia Street in Berkeley at 9:45 p.m. Tuesday.

Donna Johnetta Bragg, 32, was thrown from the truck and pronounced dead at the scene, according to Berkeley police.

“Pieces of the truck were scattered everywhere,” said Lt. Bud Stone who responded to the accident scene.

Police were not classifying the death as a suicide, but there is evidence that the collision may have been premeditated.

According to Police Information Officer Mary Kusmiss, information retrieved from the scene suggests that Bragg had just had an argument with her boyfriend, and that she had left his home in an angry state.

Police believe that Bragg drove around the crossing gates and parked her car across the railroad tracks.

Amtrak trains can travel as fast as 79 mph, said Union Pacific spokesperson Mike Furtney, who added that there was no way the train conductor could have stopped before hitting Bragg.

Such collisions are not uncommon in California. Last year 73 state residents were killed when their cars were struck by oncoming trains, the highest total in the country.

OAKLAND – A 17-year-old boy suspected of shooting an Oakland police officer in the head last month made his first appearance in Alameda County Superior Court Wednesday.

Terrence Hunter of Oakland has been charged in adult court with attempted murder of a police officer, assault with a firearm upon an officer, and unlawful possession of a firearm.

Hunter appeared in court wearing a dark blue sweatshirt and tan pants. His hands were handcuffed to a chain encircling his waist during the short proceeding in which Judge Allan D. Hymer read the charges aloud.

When the judge asked Hunter whether he could afford an attorney, the boy shrugged and said he could not. Hymer said he would assign an attorney from the public defender's office to the case and ordered Hunter to return to court today at 2 p.m.

The allegations stem from the morning of Sept. 27, when Officer Ilario Juarez, 30, stopped in front of the Mosswood Motel at 683 W. MacArthur Blvd. at about 2:45 a.m.

As Juarez, who was patrolling alone, approached a group of individuals lingering in the motel's driveway, one person immediately separated himself from the others and fired on the officer, police said. A bullet grazed Juarez's head.

Hunter was stopped by police on the day of the shooting and later arrested when a check revealed that he was wanted on a probation violation, police said. He had been convicted of robbery in Contra Costa County last year and sentenced to stay at a group home, from which he allegedly fled.

Police are searching for two adult males who robbed a couple at gunpoint and stole their car late Wednesday at 600 Bancroft Way inside Aquatic Park. According to police, two suspects armed with black semi-automatic pistols approached the couple while they were in their 2000 Isuzo Rodeo. One suspect opened the unlocked door and threw the male victim on the ground. The other suspect escorted the female victim outside the car. The suspects then demanded the victims’ wallet, backpack and car keys.

n Police officer hits cyclist

A patrol officer responding to a suicide call with full siren struck a cyclist near the corner of San Pablo Avenue and Carleton Street at 3:40 p.m. Friday. According to police, the police car had just turned right onto Carlton, when the cyclist, who was riding on the sidewalk, entered the road. The cyclist collided into the right front wheel of the police car, but did not sustain serious injuries and refused medical attention.

OAKLAND – BART police say a woman was struck and killed by a train as she walked on the tracks at the West Oakland Station Wednesday afternoon.

Witnesses told investigators that they saw the victim walking on the Concord/Fremont tracks before she crossed over to the adjacent San Francisco/Colma tracks.

The train operator of an approaching Colma-bound train spotted the woman on the track and hit the emergency stop button before entering the station at 2:01 p.m., police said. The train was unable to stop in time and struck and killed the woman at the north end of the platform.

ANAHEIM — With civic pride and a lot of publicity about their World Series bet at stake, San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown refused to wear mouse ears.

So if the Anaheim Angels win, Brown will don a cowboy hat. If the Giants triumph, Anaheim Mayor Tom Daly will wear a specially designed black and orange fedora.

“I think Mayor Brown will look cute,” Daly said Wednesday.

The cowboy hat is in homage to late Angels owner Gene Autry, who was America’s original singing cowboy. The fedora is a nod to the stylish Brown, who favors expensive suits and sophisticated hats.

Daly also agreed to host a family from San Francisco for a weekend at the amusement parks in Anaheim if the Angels lose. Brown will do the same in San Francisco if the Giants lose.

In addition to their hats, both mayors promised to wear the jersey of the winning team to work one day.

“To have the World Series be an all-coast series between Anaheim and San Francisco is an absolute delight,” Brown said in a conference call with Daly.

Surrounded by television cameras in their respective offices, Daly exchanged pleasantries with Brown. He mentioned Anaheim’s “perfect baseball weather” and ace left-hander Jarrod Washburn, who will start Game 1 for the Angels on Saturday.

“ESPN and other sports broadcasters are predicting a six- or seven-game series,” Daly said.

BRISBANE — A woman who had lived with her husband for more than a decade in a 300-year-old oak tree on San Bruno Mountain will move into temporary housing.

Thelma Caballero, who thinks she’s in her 40s, had lived with her husband, Besh Serdahely, in their coastal oak home for 12 years in San Bruno Mountain County Park. Late last week, Caballero chose to leave the tree house and move into a motel room with a kitchenette on the Peninsula.

Shelter Network, a San Mateo County-based nonprofit that provides housing and services for homeless people, helped Caballero make the move.

VALLEJO — A $665 million proposal to increase ferries traversing San Francisco Bay and to make them a better option for commuters has Solano County’s ferry service going only to Vallejo.

Benicia had been a contender, but the state-authorized Bay Area Water Transit Authority, which is presenting its ferry plan around the region, opted not to have a terminal there.

Seven new routes would originate at Berkeley, Richmond, Treasure Island, Antioch/Martinez, Hercules/Rodeo, South San Francisco and Redwood City and would all go to San Francisco.

The five existing services would get more boats. The plan sees the Vallejo ferry going from serving about 1,900 commuters daily to 4,220 by 2025. That could mean adding two ferries, said Heidi Machen, a WTA spokeswoman.

People have until Oct. 31 to comment on the ferry proposal and environmental study, Machen said. The proposal goes to the state in December.

Principal resigns after high school melee

SAN FRANCISCO – A San Francisco public school spokeswoman said Wednesday that principal Juliet Montevirgen has stepped down in the wake of criticism over a melee that closed down Thurgood Marshall High School on Friday.

At a community meeting Monday, some parents and community members clamored for Montevirgen to leave the position she assumed this fall, replacing a popular principal at the academically oriented school in the Silver Terrace neighborhood.

Police responded to a series of fights there on Friday and within an hour or so had evacuated the school and arrested several students and one teacher on an array of charges including inciting a riot. At least four students from Marshall and 10 people from off-campus participated in the fights, according to San Francisco Unified School District spokeswoman Jackie Wright.

The teacher arrested, 29-year-old Anthony Peebles, has been placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation by the district. Police said he was cited and released.

Wright said the announcement of Montevirgen's departure came this morning at a meeting with parents of freshman and sophomores, who returned to school for a half-day counseling session. Wright said the outgoing principal, who has been with the district for some-19 years, would fill another spot within the district.

On Tuesday, seniors and juniors and their parents also had a discussion and counseling session, which emphasized the importance of nonviolent conflict resolution along with coping skills. One more meeting is scheduled this evening for any parents who were previously unable to attend.

Today will be the first day since the upheaval in which all students will be back in their classrooms with their teachers to tackle subjects like trigonometry and U.S. history.

“It's back to the races,'” Wright said.

She said a man named Frank Tom, who has served as an assistant superintendent for instructional operations at the district, is expected to take over as principal on an interim basis.

SACRAMENTO — A majority of California nursing homes fail to meet federal standards and nearly half have not met minimum nurse-staffing levels set by the state, a review by a health care group found.

The California HealthCare Foundation also found that nursing homes have a very high turnover among workers, with 78 percent of nursing staff leaving their jobs from 2000 to 2001. The foundation released the 32-month study Tuesday.

The foundation also launched a Web site that gives details on all 1,406 nursing homes in California. The site compares homes based on complaints, citations, nursing staff turnover and other characteristics.

“I was surprised that things weren’t better than they were,” said lead researcher Charlene Harrington of University of California, San Francisco’s School of Nursing. “We just found a lot of quality problems in the nursing homes. It’s really pretty depressing.”

The foundation used statistics from nine public databases, including inspections and financial reports. Among the report’s findings:

— Nonprofit homes devote more staff attention to each patient and had far fewer deficiencies than for-profit competitors.

SAN FRANCISCO — The West Coast port shutdown was not a calamity for all involved: food banks from San Francisco to New York City are finding pantries fat with tons of perishables that never made it to market.

In every case, the 10-day shutdown of 29 major Pacific ports that ended last week has proven a surprise boon to food pantries. With some produce wilting in the backlog on the docks, some companies are opting to donate rather than ship behind schedule.

“To get this kind of poundage of fresh fruit is a real blessing,” said Darren Hoffman at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. “At least it didn’t go to waste.”

That warehouse has already received a 16,000-pound shipment that included lettuce, cabbage and green onions — their leaves too tattered for grocery store display, but still perfectly edible.

“Nutritionally, it’s fine,” Hoffman said. “You peel off the first leaf and bam, it looks like a million bucks.”

On Wednesday, the food bank received 25,000 pounds — about 450 cases — of bananas from Del Monte.

Los Angeles wasn’t alone.

Truckloads of the bananas with a shelf life of about two weeks are chugging from Port Hueneme northwest of Los Angeles to San Francisco, New York City, Dallas, Chicago, Seattle, Minneapolis and smaller cities in Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Missouri, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio and Oklahoma.

In all, Del Monte gave 50 truckloads — about 1,000 tons — of bananas, according to Susan Hofer, a spokeswoman with Chicago-based America’s Second Harvest, which coordinated the distribution. That single donation equaled nearly a quarter of all produce the nonprofit transported last month.

With 30 truckloads already en route, America’s Second Harvest is finding the unexpected windfall has added unexpected costs that are straining its transportation budget. Sometimes truckers donate their services, Hofer said, but bananas are perishable and, “if it’s product that has to move, we have to pay.”

In Seattle, a major grocery chain already donated around 250,000 pounds of dairy products including milk, yogurt and cottage cheese rather than risk it spoiling before it reached Alaska.

The donation was particularly appreciated because, “protein is a very hard commodity to come by,” said Linda Nageotte, director of Food Lifeline, which supplies food banks in Seattle.

The Oregon Food Bank also got a truckload of dairy products from Seattle’s docks.

And what do the two sides locked in the labor dispute think of one fruit of their battle?

Officials representing both dockworkers and shipping companies said they were happy someone was getting goods that might otherwise rot, and then blamed each other for the problem.

The longshoremen’s union said that dockworkers had asked to move perishables during the 10-day lockout.

“It’s an unintended consequence that charity is coming out of what is pure greed” from shipping companies, said Steve Stallone, spokesman for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.

Joseph Miniace, president for the Pacific Maritime Association, said the donated produce seemed awfully expensive given that the shutdown had cost the U.S. economy billions.

This particular battle, though, is not being fought in the nation’s pharmacies, where giant drug companies’ profits are being co-opted by nimbler competitors offering generic — and much cheaper — versions of popular drugs.

Instead, the fight has shifted to Sarabian Farms’ 200 acres of peaches, plums and nuts in California’s Central Valley — and the thousands of farms nationwide that use $6 billion worth of herbicides a year.

With 70 percent of U.S. weed killer patents expected to expire by 2010, an increasing number of smaller competitors are racing to compete with behemoths such as Monsanto Co. and Dow Agrosciences for a share of that market.

“Generic makers will never gain complete control of the market,” said agricultural chemical consultant Robert Ehn, who’s client roster includes generic companies. “But they will be big players.”

Already, a patent on the world’s most popular herbicide — Monsanto Co.’s Roundup — has expired, forcing the St. Louis biotechnology company to slash prices dramatically to hang on to its dominant market share.

Monsanto’s total sales last year fell one percent to $5.5 billion, due in part to the price drop. The company expects sales to be even more sluggish this year, though it also blames a Midwestern drought and Latin American fiscal crisis as aggravating factors.

Monsanto has sued at least one generic competitor, accusing Chemical Product Technologies, which makes Clearout, of violating other Monsanto patents. The Georgia company countersued, accusing Monsanto of antitrust behavior.

But nowhere is the fight nastier than in California, over oryzalin, an herbicide produced by Indiana-based Dow Agrosciences that is used by nut growers, fruit tree farmers and others to kill weeds such as crabgrass before they sprout.

California, the nation’s most productive agricultural state, consumes half the oryzalin sold nationwide.

SACRAMENTO — The California Energy Commission and the California Power Authority have set up a program to distribute $1.25 million in grants for schools to install rooftop solar energy systems, officials said Wednesday.

The money is from settlements reached between Attorney General Bill Lockyer and two energy companies with long-term contracts with the state. Calpine Energy Services agreed to pay $6 million and Constellation Power Source Inc. agreed to pay $2.5 million.

Of that total, $2.75 million will be used for retrofitting schools, hospitals and other public buildings, Lockyer’s office said. The $1.25 million “Solar Schools” program will be funded by that money.

More money could become available if Lockyer renegotiates additional long-term contracts with other energy companies.

State energy officials also announced that nearly $2.4 million was awarded for five research projects on the production of electricity from California landfills, livestock farms and food processing and wastewater treatment plants.

The “biogas” projects could take advantage of ample sources of the gas at landfills, dairies and swine farms. The power produced at these sites could be used to offset electricity at those sites, or could be sold to the grid.

The Energy Commission estimates that biogas sites could have the potential to produce up to 240 megawatts. A megawatt is enough electricity for about 750 California homes.

SACRAMENTO — California is getting a $2.3 million federal grant to expand benefits and continue group crisis counseling for family members and survivors of last year’s terrorist attacks, officials said Wednesday.

So far, the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board has received 490 Sept. 11-related claims and paid $1.6 million in medical bills, mental health counseling expenses, funeral and burial costs, and lost income compensation. The board also received 127 claims from members of the search-and-rescue teams sent to the attack sites.

The board is allowing claims until the end of next year, extending the usual one-year deadline because of the nature of the attacks and because many potential claimants don’t know they are eligible.

The new federal Anti-terrorism and Emergency Assistance Program money will let the board continue monthly regional support group meetings conducted by psychologists from the University of San Francisco Trauma Recovery Program.

An initial federal grant that had been supporting the counseling will run out in December.

“Each of the family members and survivors expressed how beneficial the counseling has been,” Gov. Gray Davis said in announcing the grant. “They have formed new, common bonds with each other, giving them strength.”

Davis met with the families and survivors after the Sept. 11 anniversary ceremony in Sacramento last month.

Legislation signed immediately after the attacks provides up to $10,000 in mental health treatment for search and rescue workers; adds grandparents, grandchildren, mothers-in-law and fathers-in-law to the list of family members eligible for assistance; lets relatives seek help even if the victim isn’t a California resident; and gave counties $2.575 million for trauma and tolerance counseling after the attacks.

The board and the California State Bar Association also offered victims free legal assistance, and the board created a group Web site and newsletter for the families and survivors to share their experiences and get benefits updates.

The board also appointed five “case managers” to coordinate benefits and services for families and survivors, search and rescue workers, and hate crime victims.

LOS ANGELES — An Orange County tourist who narrowly avoided being caught in the deadly Bali nightclub bombing that killed his friend returned to California on Wednesday, breaking into sobs as people told him, “It’s good to have you back.”

John Frederick Parodi Jr. was in Indonesia with surfing buddies Steven Cabler and Steve Webster to celebrate Webster’s 41st birthday when Webster was killed along with nearly 200 other people in Saturday’s explosion. Cabler, 42, was injured. Parodi, who decided to return to his hotel early and was not in the club when it blew up, was not hurt.

His eyes brimming with tears, Parodi told reporters at Los Angeles International Airport that the three had befriended two Indonesian men who rallied to help when the blast occurred.

Just two months after hundreds of UC Berkeley office assistants, childcare workers and library assistants walked off the job, the university’s clerical employees, locked in a bitter contract dispute with the university over wages and workplace safety, began a new round of voting Tuesday to authorize a second strike.

“Even after the strike that was held in August, the university continues to engage in unfair labor practices,” said Amatullah Alaji-Sabrie of the Coalition of University Employees, which represents 18,000 clericals across the nine-campus University of California system. “They haven’t gotten the message for whatever reason.”

But university officials, who consider the August strike illegal, warned against a second work stoppage.

“Strikes are only going to aggravate and delay contract settlement,” said university spokesperson Paul Schwartz. “At the end of the day, we need to resolve our differences.”

The rank-and-file has until Oct. 30 to cast a ballot on strike authorization.

The strike authorization measure does not specify a date or duration for a second work stoppage. Instead it provides the executive board of CUE Local 3, which represents 2,300 clericals at UC Berkeley and the Oakland-based office of UC President Richard Atkinson, with broad authority to set future strike dates.

UC Berkeley lecturers joined clerical employees in the August strike. Michele Squitieri, field representative for University Council-American Federation of Teachers, which represents the clericals, said it is “very possible” that the lecturers would walk off the job again if CUE launches a second strike.

Lecturers at all nine campuses are locked in a two-and-a-half year contract squabble with the university, calling for greater job security and higher wages.

UC clerical employees, at all nine campuses, have worked without a contract for more than a year. CUE and the university have been locked in combative talks for months.

The union is asking for a 15 percent raise over two years and the university is offering a 3.5 pay hike, including a 1 percent raise that went into effect last year.

Union officials contend that the 1 percent raise was part of the previous contract and that the current offer really amounts to 2.5 percent.

Whatever the exact figure, university officials say they simply cannot afford to offer more because of limited funding provided by the cash-strapped state.

Union officials contend that the university could tap $2.3 billion in unrestricted funds to pay for a better raise, but UC says the money is wrapped up in other projects.

On Friday, the university set an Oct. 31 deadline for CUE to accept the 3.5 percent offer. Union officials have brushed off the deadline as a “silly, idle threat.”

The first day of the strike authorization vote coincided with a campus demonstration that drew about 100 clericals, lecturers and labor supporters to campus.

Speakers at the rally, including State Rep. Dion Aroner, D-Berkeley, and District 8 City Council candidate Andy Katz, called for better wages and job security.

Activists also expressed solidarity with hundreds of clericals and lecturers in a second day of strikes on five UC campuses in Davis, Irvine, Riverside, Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz.

The current struggle between the University of California and its employees, which has resulted in two recent strikes at Berkeley, Davis, Riverside, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara and Irvine, is not just about money. It is about the allocation of money. UC keeps saying they would like to give its employees a raise but they can’t because of state budget cuts. They are implying that they have no choice because it is “the law.” The unions are saying that paying employees from state funds is only a “tradition” which can and should be broken.

All of this reminds me of a conversation I had with my son when he was a teenager. One day he asked me for some special basketball shoes that he said would transform him into the next Michael Jordan. I told him, “We don’t have the money.” He replied, “But what about that money you put away for a ‘rainy day?’” “That,” I retorted, “is for emergencies.” “Well this is an emergency,” he said. “No, it is not,” I replied. Things got heated at this point on the issue of allocation. Finally, my son marched off, and I thought that was the end of it.

What happened next? Well my son went on strike . . . so to speak. I will spare you the details. Let’s just say that by the end of the week I was at my wits end. Not wanting to cave in, I sat down with my son, and we talked things over. He explained to me that these shoes were important for his morale. He had just barely made the basketball team. He wanted to do well and shoes were important. They would cushion the impact of the running and jumping. He would not stand out like a sore thumb next to the other kids on the team whose parents had more money than we did.

By the end of the conversation, I realized we were not talking about money and shoes. We were talking about self-esteem and success. So I gave in. I went to the “rainy day” fund (even though it was sunny outside), took out what amounted to about 1 percent of the money and bought him the shoes. Karl went on to be the MVP of the basketball team and got a full scholarship to Dominican College in San Rafael.

The point of my story is this: The unions at Cal have found the “rainy day” fund that the university says is earmarked for other things. It amounts to billions (not millions) of dollars. As hard-working employees, we want them to give us some of that money so we can pay our bills, give up our second job, and take care of our kids’ needs.

Alameda High was supposed to be just another speed bump in Berkeley High’s road to a third straight volleyball league championship, but they turned out to be more of a traffic jam.

The Yellowjackets, however, would not be slowed down, keeping their conference record perfect at 7-0 with a 3-1 (15-7, 14-16, 15-6, 15-6) win. It was only the second time Berkeley lost a game to a conference opponent in three years.

Berkeley seemed to have command of the second game after a seven-point run gave them a 7-2 lead. The Hornets battled back to tie the game at 12-12, but Berkeley seniors Amalia Jarvis and Vanessa Williams countered with a service ace and a spike respectively to give Berkeley game point. Errors on serves and returns halted the Jackets’ momentum, however, and the Hornets took the game 16-14.

Williams said the team’s lack of focus cost them the game.

“I felt like we were making great plays, then our communication would break down,” Williams said.

Berkeley was on the verge of losing control of the match in the third game. Alameda battled to a 6-5 lead, but the hard-hitting Berkeley offense started to wear on the Hornets. The Jackets took advantage of five errors by Alameda for 10-0 run, capped by Jarvis’ kill and service ace, to close out the game.

In the fourth game the Jackets responded to falling down 2-0 by reeling off seven straight points. The Hornets mounted a comeback, pulling within 7-5, but a Jarvis service ace ignited an 8-1 run for Berkeley to close out the game.

Nadia Qabazard and Williams were both surprised at how well Alameda was able to dig their attackers’ spikes.

“We’ve never seen a team that could dig,” said Williams, who had 16 digs of her own.

“We couldn’t just hit the ball right into their team,” said Qabazard, who led the team with 18 digs. “We had to get a lot better at hitting certain spots in their defense.”

Williams and Jarvis were able hit their spots in the Alameda defense, leading the team with 14 and 13 kills respectively. Jarvis added 13 digs and four blocks.

Caraway found a hole in Berkeley’s attack that the team will have to improve on when they start the second half of league play.

“Our serving was horrendus,” said Caraway. Berkeley, 13-8 overall, had 23 service errors in the game. “We had an off night. We are usually a really good serving team.”

Williams, despite not feeling mentally prepared for the match, said she knew what was coming in today’s practice.

“After all the running we will be doing tomorrow we will figure it out,” Williams said.

City Council spared two popular programs from the chopping block Tuesday, including winter swimming at Willard Pool. But as officials dealt with city budget forecasts, they agreed that additional across-the-board cuts would be inevitable.

Berkeley will have to cut $6.4 million to balance the 2004/2005 budget, according to a city report presented Tuesday. An additional $3.1 million in savings will be needed to balance the 2006/2007 budget.

This means the city will likely reduce employees and cut programs over the next five years, Kamlarz said.

Despite the grim news, council opted to use $100,000 carried over from last year’s budget to keep Willard Pool open this winter and hire a new coordinator for the city’s green business program.

Against the advice of staff, council voted 7-3 not to devote an additional $70,000 carried over to finance a study on unearthing Strawberry Creek to run above ground through the downtown or conduct a study to determine if UC Berkeley should pay more for city services.

A final determination on those projects as well as additional funding for the city’s animal shelter were tabled until Nov. 12.

Advocates for the salvaged programs were predictably excited.

“There is definitely a sense that we have been given a new lease on life,” said Karen Davis of the Willard Swimmers Association, which fought to keep the pool at Telegraph Avenue and Derby Street open this winter.

But the council is likely to leave several programs without sufficient funding in 2003. These include a plan to use environmentally-friendly fuels in city sanitation trucks, the hiring of additional traffic officers and a pedestrian safety coordinator and grants to several nonprofits that serve the city, including the City CarShare program.

Gina Moreland, executive director of Habitot, a downtown Berkeley children’s discovery museum, was disappointed that the city planned to reject her request for $25,000 to help fund free admissions for low-income kids.

“The city is now giving us less than 2 percent of our budget which isn’t right considering how much we serve the community and how much business we bring to downtown,” she said.

The city’s budget shortfall is primarily due to the rising costs of the state Public Employee Retirement System, according to Kamlarz. The public retirement fund has lost investment money over the past few years and the state is charging cities more to make up for losses.

“Retirement benefits are going through the roof,” said Kamlarz.

To help offset the deficit, the city manager’s office has instituted a hiring freeze on nonessential city jobs and has asked council to implement a moratorium on new spending until the 2004/2005 budget is finalized in June 2003.

Also, the city manager’s office is developing a list of further program and service cuts that it will recommend to council at a January budget meeting. Kamlarz said it was premature to discuss the programs that might be affected.

Berkeley may actually be in worse financial shape than current estimates indicate, Kamlarz added. He said that this year’s state budget – which included funding for Berkeley – failed to reduce mounting state deficits. Consequently, upcoming state budgets would likely reduce state money given to Berkeley, he said.

If the U.S. government has discovered links between al-Qaida and Iraq, that could be beneficial rather than harmful to protecting the U.S. from attack. It is in the interest of the Iraqi regime to use its power and influence to prevent further attacks on the U.S. by al-Qaida, since a terrorist attack on the U.S. would provide a splendid excuse to invade Iraq. It would be a brilliant strategy by the chiefs of the U.S. government to threaten war with Iraq with the aim of getting Iraq to become an unwitting ally against al-Qaida. It is possible that the U.S. has not been attacked because the Iraqis have helped to rein in the terrorists, in which case the best strategy is to keep threatening war without actually invading. If the US does invade Iraq without any terrorist provocation, it will have foolishly lost the use of leveraging Iraq as an unwitting ally in the prevention of another attack by al-Qaida.

ANAHEIM – Everywhere the Anaheim Angels go, the question is the same: Pitch to Barry Bonds or walk him?

Listening to the talk Tuesday at Edison Field, it seems the Angels will be playing only against Bonds in the World Series, trying to devise a plan to somehow beat him, 25 on 1.

“The last two seasons, he’s had the most incredible seasons in the history of baseball, if you look at all his numbers and all the microstatistics,” Anaheim manager Mike Scioscia said.

Of course, San Francisco will have 25 players on the roster when the first all wild-card World Series opens Saturday night. But Bonds is the focus, which puts Scott Schoeneweis in the spotlight. Bonds is 1-for-7 against the left-hander with four strikeouts, no walks and no home runs.

“The best-case scenario is to get the guys out before Barry comes up,” Schoeneweis said.

And with no one on base, there’s a good chance Bonds will be walked.

Bonds was walked a record 198 times during the season – and scored on just 34 of them, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Following his record 68 intentional walks, he scored just three times.

Of course, 79 of his walks came with two outs.

“The guys that faced the guy every day, all the time, year in, year out, they all seemed to do the same thing,” Angels pitching coach Bud Black said. “I don’t think that they’re all wrong.”

Still, his gut feeling was Anaheim would pitch most of the time to Bonds, who has four homers and 10 RBIs in the postseason.

In addition to Schoeneweis – Anaheim’s only lefty reliever – Bonds has faced just three other pitchers on Anaheim’s roster: He’s 4-for-7 with two homers, two walks and a strikeout against Kevin Appier; 0-for-1 against right-handed reliever Ben Weber; and 0-for-1 with three walks and no strikeouts against Troy Percival.

“We’ll just be smart. I don’t think we’ll be scared of him and pitch around him,” said Jarrod Washburn, picked Tuesday by Scioscia to start the opener.

“We’ll try to not let him beat us. I’ll challenge him. I’m looking forward to the challenge. He’s a great player. If there’s a situation where he can beat us, the smart thing to do is pitch around him.”

Washburn isn’t a fan of intentional walks when no one is on base.

“I don’t see that happening,” he said. “I don’t think we’re going to be intimidated or scared by Barry Bonds. We’re going to be smart about it.”

As workers cleaned and did some touchup paint work at the ballpark, Washburn already was looking ahead to the opener, where he could face the Giants’ Jason Schmidt.

“I’m sure I’ll be thinking about it a lot,” Washburn said. “It’s going to be the biggest game of my life. I’m pretty sure we won’t sweep and they won’t sweep, so I’ll have another start and that will be the biggest game of my life.”

It’s the first World Series between second-place teams, with the Giants (95-66) finishing 2 1/2 games behind Arizona in the NL West, then beating Atlanta and St. Louis.

Anaheim (99-63) set a franchise record for wins, but finished four games behind Oakland. The Angels then upset the New York Yankees and beat Minnesota.

Because of interleague play, the Angels and Giants have faced each other in regular-season games – but didn’t play this year. San Francisco holds an 11-5 advantage, and Bonds has five homers against Anaheim.

“The Angels are a team that doesn’t quit,” Giants manager Dusty Baker said. “They can score a lot of runs. They don’t strike out. They can put the ball in play. They have a fundamentally sound team defensively, offensively. Good team speed, good young bullpen that nobody knows that much about, and young pitchers, which is to their advantage.

Board of Education members want a raise. But first, they’ll have to get past a skeptical public.

On Nov. 5 Berkeley voters, flooded with months of stories about budget shortfalls and painful cuts in the Berkeley Unified School District, will cast a ballot on Measure K, which would boost school board pay from $875 to $1,500 per month if passed.

Supporters say the raise, which would be the first since 1988, is long overdue. They also argue that the pay hike, which would go into effect in December, might attract a more diverse slate of school board candidates in the future.

Finally, proponents note that members could divert the increase to pay for assistants. The board, unlike City Council, has no staff to return phone calls, attend meetings and conduct independent research.

But opponents, including one member of the school board, say it is inappropriate to ask for a pay hike when the district faces a $3.9 million budget shortfall and questions about the board’s fiscal management.

“I just don’t think this is a good time for the board to be asking for a raise,” said school board President Shirley Issel. “We’re very troubled financially.”

“If not now, when?,” asked board member John Selawsky, who is leading the push for the pay hike.

If the public believes that board members need to work harder and do a better job, he argued, it should compensate members accordingly and give them the resources to hire staff.

Selawsky also pointed out that the raise would come out of city coffers, not school district funds. But Issel said the board is asking too much of the public to understand the distinction.

Measure K has become an issue in the six-candidate race for three slots on the school board. The race features incumbents Issel and Terry Doran and challengers Derick Miller, Nancy Riddle, Lance Montauk and Sean Dugar.

Montauk, a vocal opponent of Measure K, has argued that approval would be like rewarding Enron or Worldcom executives for their mismanagement. But Riddle takes a different view.

“The timing’s not great, but I’m in favor of it,” she said. “It might give someone like me or another school board member an opportunity to fund a part-time aide.”

Riddle said that, in the past, district staff has filtered the information received by board members. Part-time staffers would give members an opportunity to conduct independent research, she said.

Riddle also said hiring aides would give the board a chance to cultivate young talent for future leadership roles.

But Riddle was skeptical that a jump to $1,500 a month, or $18,000 per year, is enough to attract a new slate of lower-income candidates to future school board races.

Still, Selawsky said the pay hike is justified to compensate for the long hours school board members pour into the job.

“I do think board members put a lot of time in... $875 doesn’t begin to compensate people for the time they put in,” he said.

There are currently plenty of anti-war demonstrations taking place all over the civilized world. I would be so pleased to see similar demonstrations in the Arab and Islamic nations calling for an end to terrorism against occidental people, and calling for an end to the propaganda against Jews. Also I would be pleased to see anti-government demonstration in Iraq where so many people have been slain by Saddam Hussein for the last three decades. Unfortunately Israel is the only country in the entire Middle East where freedom of speech is honored.

City Council officially slammed the door Tuesday on smokers who park themselves outside the doorways of public buildings.

Council unanimously passed the second reading of the Smokefree Doorways ordinance, which means that beginning Nov. 14 smoking will be prohibited within 20 feet of entrances and air intake vents to Berkeley shops and office buildings.

Smokers will still be permitted to walk past buildings with a lit cigarette, but will not be able stop within 20 feet of a door or vent.

The law requires building managers to post city-made decals informing smokers of the new restrictions.

A $100 fine can be imposed on a business that does not post the sign or a smoker who does not obey the law.

But Marcia Brown-Machen, director of the city’s Tobacco Prevention Program, said that she and the city attorney’s office reviewed similar ordinances from other California cities and the 20-foot limit is fair.

She added that strict distance requirements are needed because cigarette smoke puffed by smokers outside offices and shops is sucked back indoors.

“People walking through entrances where smokers are huddled feel like they are walking through a carton of toxins,” she said.

The law will not be aggressively enforced, Brown-Machen said.

“We’re relying on the power of the signs,” she said, noting that enforcement officials would not be deployed unless an offender was the subject of repeat complaints.

The new smoking ban strengthens Berkeley’s already tough nicotine laws. All city-owned buildings prohibit smoking within 15 feet of doorways, and smoking is prohibited at outdoor work sites and restaurant patios.

Darcy Morrison's letter (Forum, Oct. 7) on so called “smart growth” hits the nail on the head. Densifying Berkeley will not minimize outlying tract developments. It will probably make our transportation problems even worse, and will do little to increase the stock of affordable housing. Why sacrifice Berkeley? We are doing our share to resolve these problems, but Berkeley is a small player in the overall region.

HELENA, Mont. — A U.S. senator is demanding an explanation from the National Park Service for why it cut short the season of a Yellowstone National Park ranger who earlier was ordered to stop speaking out about unscrupulous hunters.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said sending Bob Jackson home early smacks of further retaliation and violates the spirit of a settlement the agency reached with him late last year.

Jackson, a 30-year park veteran, patrols a remote area of Yellowstone near the park’s southeast corner. His expertise is catching poachers and he has long criticized hunting guides he says illegally lure elk from Yellowstone by placing salt outside park boundaries on Forest Service land in Wyoming.

In 2001, Jackson, who lives in Promise City Iowa, said park management ordered him not to speak publicly about his concerns and sent him home from his job early, telling him he would not be hired back the next season.

Jackson filed a complaint and, under an agreement reached in December 2001, was rehired for the 2002 season to patrol the same area of the park.

However, he said the agency asked him to leave Sept. 17, long before hunting season outside the park heats up. That was extended a couple of weeks, but only after the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility complained to the agency, he said.

Still, he is being asked to leave much earlier than normal, Jackson contends.

“This is a thing that is bigger than me,” he said. “It has do with a lot of the status quo with the National Park Service.”

Rick Frost, a spokesman for the Park Service’s regional office in Denver, said Grassley and Fran Mainella, the agency’s director, had corresponded about Jackson. But Frost said he did not know the extent of the discussions and could not immediately comment.

In a letter to Interior Secretary Gale Norton, who oversees the agency, Grassley said it appears the Park Service is still trying to punish Jackson for speaking out.

“When someone like him speaks up about unethical practices and gets sidelined and shut out, then there are a lot of questions for the National Park Service to answer,” Grassley said in a statement. “I’m intent on stopping this kind of intimidation so other government workers who are willing to speak up about problems are not deterred.”

Grassley accused the Park Service of lax enforcement to prevent poaching and of retaliating against Jackson for his outspoken criticism.

“Getting rid of Mr. Jackson serves the interests of park supervisory officials who wish to avoid high-profile conflicts with poachers and negative attention,” Grassley wrote to Norton. “Mr. Jackson has proved himself to have unique skills and knowledge of the backcountry area where poaching is known to take place.”

Jackson said the Park Service has purposely staffed the backcountry with a small number of rangers with little experience.

“The park needed more enforcement coverage, not less like they have now,” Jackson said. “There was no intention there to have fall hunting control.”

OAKLAND – A significant budget gap is plaguing the Oakland Unified School District and county officials have appointed a fiscal advisor while they wait to find out just how much money is missing.

“The district is now saying that they’re still not ready to be able to release any numbers... I thought that they’d be able to close the books this week, but that hasn’t happened,” Alameda County Office of Education Superintendent Sheila Jordan said Tuesday.

On Friday, Jordan appointed Joe Montora, deputy executive director of the independent Fiscal Crisis Management Team, to oversee any decisions that would negatively impact the budget.

Montora is a former school superintendent and reports directly to the executive director of FCMT, Tom Henry. Jordan says together the two will work with the county to decide if a further audit is necessary.

The reason for the budget gap is unclear at this time.

While Jordan could not confirm that a misappropriation of funds might have occurred, she did say that “in every case revenues were overstated and expenditures were understated...it’s very clear that’s what is part of what’s going on.”

The county had asked for an extension to approve the school district’s 2002-2003 budget. After it became clear a negative balance was anticipated, Jordan rejected the budget.

After a definitive number is provided, Montora will begin working with the board and the superintendent on a developmental recovery plan.

“This is not going to be solved in a minute. We’re talking about a major gap, and it’s going to take a while, to close the books, to stabilize the district, and to review,” said Jordan.

Jordan hopes the district will wrap up its investigation by the end of the month. Then the country will decide if they need to do an in-depth audit.

OAKLAND – A 17-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of shooting an Oakland police officer in the head last month, police said.

Terrence Hunter of Oakland is set to be arraigned today in Alameda County Superior Court on charges of attempted murder of a police officer and assault with a deadly weapon, according to Homicide Lt. Brian Thiem.

Officer Ilario Juarez, 30, stopped in front of the Mosswood Motel at 683 W. MacArthur Blvd. at about 2:45 a.m. on Sept.27 when he saw a group of individuals lingering in the motel’s driveway, police said.

When Juarez approached the group, one person immediately separated himself from the others and fired on the officer without provocation, police said. A bullet grazed Juarez’s head.

Following the shooting, homicide investigators and officers canvassed the neighborhood.

Hunter was stopped by police on that day and later arrested when a check revealed that he was wanted on a probation violation, Thiem said. He had been convicted of robbery and sentenced to stay at a group home, from which he allegedly fled.

“We did not know (Hunter) was the suspect, but we had a lot of rumor information out there and he was someone we were looking at,” Thiem said.

A week after the shooting, Officer Juarez was finally healthy enough to provide a statement on the incident and review photographs of possible suspects.

“Juarez identified (Hunter) as the person who shot him,” Thiem said. According to Thiem, investigators have located a witness who also identified Hunter as the alleged gunman.

Hunter had been in custody on the probation violation and was formally arrested Monday at Juvenile Hall in connection with the shooting of Juarez, police said. He is scheduled to be arraigned in adult court in Oakland on Wednesday at 2 p.m.

Thiem said investigators had probable cause to arrest Hunter within a couple of days of the shooting but waited until they had amassed proof of his alleged involvement beyond a reasonable doubt.

When confronted with the accusation, Hunter denied any connection to the shooting, Thiem said.

Thiem credited the arrest to tireless efforts by investigators.

“This case was not solved by a good citizen,” Thiem said. “This was solved by cops and the investigators beating the bushes out there, making happen.”

Thiem said Juarez could be released from the hospital this week. A police spokesman said the officer was fortunate that the bullet never penetrated the skull.

SAN FRANCISCO – Immigration activists in 12 states are rallying and lobbying congressional representatives this week in an election-season effort to generate support for legalizing undocumented workers.

“We feel like there’s been an awful lot of unfair scapegoating of immigrants” since the Sept. 11 attacks, said Joshua Hoyt, executive director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, which rallied Tuesday.

Activists also visited congressional offices and held news conferences and rallies Tuesday in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Tennessee, Idaho and New York. A rally in Michigan took place last month, and other events were scheduled for Oregon, Delaware, Florida, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Kansas and New Jersey later this week.

The campaign is being organized by the Washington, D.C.-based National Campaign for Jobs and Income Support.

House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt last week introduced a bill that would grant undocumented immigrants legal status if they have been in the country at least five years, worked two years and can meet other requirements such as passing a background check.

Gephardt admitted his proposal stands little chance of being passed by Congress this year. Referring to the upcoming elections, he said that a Democratic majority in the House would improve the chances of such legislation.

Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, D.C., opposes granting amnesty to illegal immigrants. He said Gephardt’s proposal is an attempt to “curry favor with Democratic constituency groups,” including Hispanics.

A Pew Hispanic Center and Kaiser Family Foundation survey of 1,329 registered Hispanic voters found 85 percent of respondents supported giving undocumented Latino immigrants a chance to obtain legal status. Hispanic voters tend to identify themselves as Democrats rather than Republicans by more than a 2-to-1 margin, the survey found.

The timing of Gephardt’s bill is “really strategic,” said Claudia Gomez, a fellow at the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights in Oakland. “They will be seen as supporting immigrant communities.”

SAN FRANCISCO – Opening statements are scheduled to begin today in San Francisco Superior Court in a legal dispute over possession of Giants slugger Barry Bonds’ 73rd home run baseball.

On Oct. 7, 2001, Bonds swatted the historic home run at Pacific Bell Park. The stroke set the single season home run record.

Alex Popov of San Francisco said he cleanly gloved the ball and lost it in a violent melee. Patrick Hayashi, 37, who lives in the Sacramento area, ultimately ended up with the baseball.

Popov, 38, filed suit on Oct. 24, claiming that Hayashi was among a group of people who attacked him after he made the catch in an effort to wrest the ball from his control. Hayashi has said he was simply “in the right place at the right time.’’

A judge has since dismissed claims of assault and battery from the lawsuit. The core issue, specifically whether Popov gained “unequivocal dominion and control’’ of the ball, is a legitimate issue for trial, the court ruled.

Popov’s attorneys have asked that a judge hear the case rather than a jury. A possible court trial before Judge Kevin M. McCarthy could last two to three weeks, attorneys said.

McCarthy said the first witnesses could be called as early as Thursday afternoon.

The disputed baseball, which could be worth a reported $1 million, is currently being held in a safe-deposit box, with the court in possession of the keys.

According to witnesses, Rapoza kept repeating, “My foot was stuck” after he was rescued.

Investigators have not said why they think Rapoza may have tried to kill his family and himself, but have noted past cases of alleged domestic violence between Rapoza and his wife.

Rapoza has a history of mental illness, according to past arrest warrants, including an incident in April when police placed him in protective custody after he allegedly threatened to kill himself should his wife ever leave.

Raye Lynn died at the scene. Her daughter died Oct. 7.

Rapoza is being held without bail in San Mateo County Jail and has not entered a plea to three counts of murder, plus a special circumstance of multiple murder that could involve the death penalty.

SAN RAFAEL – The San Rafael Police Department arrested a former Catholic priest Tuesday for sexual offenses he allegedly committed against a teen girl during the 1970s.

Police said they arrested Anthony Murnig, 59, at his home in Sonoma County and then booked him into the Marin County Jail on a felony warrant. His bail is set at $1 million.

The Marin County District Attorney was notified in May by the San Francisco Archdiocese of victims who had reported instances of sexual abuse at the hands of church officials.

According to the Police Department, an unidentified woman reported that Murnig repeatedly assaulted her between 1970 and 1974 while he was in residence at St. Sebastian Church in Greenbrae and a faculty member at Marin Catholic High School.

She told police that the first assault occurred in the church rectory when she was 15 and that they continued on a regular basis over the next four years at various church locations and at Murnig's home.

Sudden Oak Death council grows

SANTA ROSA – Sonoma County's Board of Supervisors today was expected to join a council comprised of the 12 Bay Area counties affected by Sudden Oak Death.

The proposed California Sudden Oak Death Coastal Counties Council would work with the state’s Oak Mortality Task Force in getting their legislative delegations to fund the fight against the disease that has killed tens of thousands of oak trees and infected unrelated plant species in northern California and southern Oregon.

The resolution before the supervisors states that “a structure is needed to coordinate the efforts of counties, cities and special districts affected by Sudden Oak Death in pursuit of the continuing government funding necessary to fight the disease.”

Neighboring cops could shed light on bank robbery

BURLINGAME – Police in neighboring cities may recognize at least one of the robbers who shot and killed a manager during a bank takeover in Burlingame last week.

Investigators from Redwood City, Palo Alto and San Mateo County sheriff’s detectives are scheduled to meet with Burlingame police later this week to share information on the suspect.

Police in the other cities recognized one of the robbers in a bank surveillance photo because of a white bandage on his nose. Burlingame police believe the robber fired the bullet that killed bank manager Alice Martel, 34, on Friday.

Investigators say a man matching that description stood lookout during a Sept. 16 robbery of a Palo Alto restaurant. On Sept. 12, the same man, with his taped-up nose, robbed a Shell gas station in Redwood City.

Burlingame police released surveillance photos of the three suspects Sunday. Wells Fargo is offering a $50,000 reward.

SACRAMENTO – State regulators announced Tuesday measures to add volunteers to help monitor nursing homes and to expand a consumer assistance program for residents and their families.

The Davis administration will also seek legislation to double or treble fines for nursing homes with repeat violations, said state health officials.

California’s Health and Human Services Agency will expand to statewide a pilot program that puts volunteer ombudsmen in nursing homes to advocate for patients, said Grantland Johnson, secretary of the agency.

The Department of Aging’s long-term care ombudsman program currently has 1,300 volunteers who monitor patient care and complaints at nursing homes, and the expansion will add another 650 ombudsmen.

Created in the 1970s, the program is paid for by fines collected from nursing homes, said Brenda Klutz, DHS’ deputy director for licensing and certification.

The agency will also expand the Health Facility Consumer Assistance program, which Johnson called “a one-stop shop for help and questions on nursing homes.”

Now a pilot program in 23 Northern California counties, the assistance enter will be able to respond to more than 200,000 calls annually once it is expanded, Klutz said. It received 2,000 in its first two months.

“These are folks who go to facilities on a weekly basis,” Klutz said. “They’re wonderful at resolving issues. They’re community resources who help families with questions about Social Security, Medicare, and are overall resident advocates.”

The changes are part of Gov. Gray Davis’ Aging with Dignity Initiative.

Davis will ask lawmakers to approve doubling fines for nursing homes with B violations, those infractions that don’t cause any harm to residents, to a range of $200 to $2,000, said Department of Health Services Director Diana Bonta.

Fines for A violations, which result from a resident being harmed or a situation that has the potential to cause serious harm, will triple for repeat violations within 24 months, she said.

Fines for A violations can range from $2,000 to $20,000. Under the proposal, if a violation is repeated, the second fine would be treble the original amount, Klutz said.

Additionally, nursing homes will be required to notify DHS of any pending court actions, Bonta said.

Legislators will have to approve the proposal to increase fine, but the state can change the consumer information center and ombudsman program immediately, Klutz said.

SAN FRANCISCO – It was all smiles Tuesday at the San Francisco Board of Supervisors meeting, where the sometimes contentious panel voted 11-0 to give the city’s Olympic bid a vital green light – three years ahead of schedule.

“San Francisco is now poised to become the U.S. candidate city in November,” said a confident-sounding Anne Cribbs, a former Olympian who heads the Bay Area team seeking to bring the Summer Games to the region in 2012. After the U.S. Olympic Committee chooses between San Francisco and New York City in a couple weeks, the International Olympic Committee will make the final selection of the host city in 2005.

Tuesday’s vote grants power to – in fact, compels – the city mayor to sign a contract in that year should San Francisco eventually beat other contenders such as Paris. It also removes a clause in the Bay Area Sports Organizing Committee’s agreement with the city that would allow San Francisco to withdraw in case of the committee’s default.

Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who heads the board’s Finance Committee, authored the measure and said he was satisfied that the city is protected by a series of enforceable agreements with the bid committee. A deputy city attorney explained that the committee has put together a $250 million insurance fund in addition to other contractual obligations to protect city tax payers.

Outside the board’s chambers at City Hall, Cribbs said her group has used conservative figures to come up with its $2.4 billion budget and anticipated $2.8 billion revenues. She pointed out that a key factor in keeping costs down is that the Bay Area already has 80 percent of the needed structures.

“When you get into trouble is when you build a lot of things like in Montreal (in 1976),” she said.

Cribbs said the U.S. Olympic Committee decision is due late in the day on Nov. 2 in Colorado Springs, Colo. She said Tuesday’s vote provides the committee “some level of comfort” that San Francisco would not back out of the deal if chosen, as Denver did several decades ago.

SACRAMENTO – More of the fastest-growing businesses, as ranked by Inc. Magazine, are from California than from any other state, negating an impression the state’s business climate is too unfriendly, state officials said.

“Three of the top 10 fastest-growing companies in America are in California, and 58 of the top 500 are in California, substantially more than any other state,” said Gov. Gray Davis. “And even though we’re dealing with a national recession, California has maintained policies that promote growth and encourage innovation.”

Of the 58 California companies that made the list, 23 were from the Bay Area, 17 were from Los Angeles and 11 were from San Diego.

Texas had the next highest number of companies on the list, with 47 firms. Florida had 31 companies and New York had 28.

The magazine ranked Outsource Group of Walnut Creek, Calif., as the nation’s fastest-growing company. Outsource, which provides professional personnel services to businesses, grew 54,330 percent in five years, with sales of $294.5 million in 2001.

Inc. Magazine will release its list at the end of October. This is the second year that California, the nation’s most populous state, ranked first on this list.

The state’s good showing also is contrary to the impression that California’s economy was “incredibly dependent on a smoke and mirrors, dot-com economy,” said Karen Dillon, executive editor of Inc. Magazine. “This is good evidence that there’s a lot more breadth and depth” to the state’s economy.

California, with the fifth largest economy in the world, has a gross state product of $1.4 trillion.

The 500 companies on the magazine’s list had an average five-year sales growth of 1,521 percent. The average figure for last year’s list was 1,933 percent.

Average sales for the top 500 companies dropped slightly, from $24.9 million to $24.7 million, Dillon said. The technology sector remains the leading industry, with 40 percent of the firms.

SAN FRANCISCO – Pressplay, the joint online music venture of Sony Corp. and Vivendi Universal SA, has inked a deal with BMG to add its music catalog to the song streaming and download service.

The deal, announced Monday, brings pressplay one step closer to providing content from all five major recording companies. BMG’s roster of top artists includes Christina Aguilera, Placido Domingo and The Strokes and the deal means pressplay will now have music content from Sony, Universal, BMG and EMI available to its customers.

“The addition of this fourth major music company is another important step forward for pressplay. Following the successful launch of our latest version, which includes commercial-free radio, pressplay continues to deliver to our members the features and music they want,” said Michael Bebel, president and chief executive officer of pressplay.

“We are pleased to make our music available through pressplay,” said Michael Smellie, BMG’s chief operating officer. “This license agreement further demonstrates BMG’s commitment to bringing music to consumers online in a way that is dynamic and respects our artists’ rights.”

A source close to pressplay’s chief competitor, MusicNet, said it’s just days away from bringing the same Big Five companies under one corporate online roof to offer a wide array of digital song downloads.

The source told The AP that MusicNet had completed an agreement with Universal and was poised to sign another agreement with Sony within days.

MusicNet is the joint venture of AOL Time Warner, Inc., EMI Group PLC and Bertelsmannn AG. Neither MusicNet nor pressplay currently offers content from each of the five major companies, nor have the ventures divulged how many people have subscribed to the services.

WASHINGTON – The maker of America’s fastest train is shopping around a new product that could bring high-speed rail service to areas outside the Northeast.

Bombardier Transportation says its new “JetTrain” locomotive, powered by a jet engine, can reach 150 mph without needing overhead electrical lines like those used by Amtrak’s high-speed Acela Express.

Bombardier led the consortium that built Acela Express, which operates in the Boston-New York-Washington corridor – the only electrified intercity corridor in the nation.

Pierre Lortie, president of Montreal-based Bombardier, said Tuesday he is confident the equipment problems that have plagued Acela Express will not hurt sales of the new locomotive.

He said several states are developing high-speed rail, and the company is targeting proposed high-speed lines within California, between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, between Chicago and St. Louis, between Tampa and Orlando in Florida, and between Toronto and Montreal.

Lortie said the company could begin closing deals in the next few months.

Bombardier has worked on the JetTrain for four years in partnership with the U.S. Federal Railroad Administration. Each side has invested about $20 million, Lortie said.

The company says the new locomotive fits American demands because it is environmentally friendly, lightweight – thus causing less wear and tear on tracks – and capable of going into operation without major improvements to rail lines.

“We believe JetTrain high-speed rail is the technology for America because it’s better, it’s faster and it’s sooner,” said Lecia Stewart, Bombardier’s vice president for high-speed rail for North America.

The locomotive is powered by a Pratt & Whitney jet engine rather than a traditional diesel engine. Bombardier says it is 20 percent lighter than a diesel locomotive and can accelerate twice as quickly. It is also designed to meet stringent U.S. safety standards.

Development of the non-electric locomotive is one piece of an ongoing effort by the Federal Railroad Administration to pave the way for high-speed rail around the nation.

Bombardier showed off its new product at Union Station. The prototype locomotive – cherry red, with an American flag decal and the words “Turbine Powered” on its snub nose – sat at a station platform.

The Federal Railroad Administration did not participate in the event, since it was a commercial product kickoff. But spokesman Warren Flateau said the FRA remains “very much a part of the partnership.”

Also not represented at the event was Amtrak, which despite its financial woes remains the only current provider of regularly scheduled intercity passenger rail in the United States. Amtrak says it needs $1.2 billion from the government just to maintain operations for the next year and has shelved expansion plans, including those for high-speed rail.

Lortie acknowledged that Amtrak could be a potential purchaser but said high-speed projects being developed outside Amtrak’s oversight are more promising.

He specifically cited Florida, where voters two years ago passed a constitutional amendment requiring construction of a rail network, with trains exceeding 120 mph, by November 2003.

Amtrak and Bombardier are locked in a legal battle over production delays and equipment problems that marred the introduction of Acela Express.

Bombardier, a world leader in manufacturing regional jets and train cars, sued Amtrak in 2000, contending the railroad held up production through shifting demands and bad decisions. It is seeking at least $200 million in damages.

Amtrak blames Bombardier and says that, under its contract, it reserves the right to seek more than $250 million in penalties. On Sept. 30, a judge denied Amtrak’s motion to dismiss the case.

Amtrak and Bombardier continue to work together on equipment problems that grounded the Acela Express fleet for part of August. Lortie said the cracking that occurred underneath the high-speed locomotives was “an unfortunate technical issue, but I think it is behind us.”

SAN FRANCISCO – The one suspect investigators had in the Zodiac killings of the late 1960s does not match DNA evidence, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

Traces of saliva gathered from the cryptic letters the killer sent to police do not match the DNA of the late Arthur Leigh Allen, Vallejo police inspector Kelly Carroll told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Allen was the sole suspect named in the serial killings that terrorized the San Francisco Bay area in the 1960s.

“Arthur Leigh Allen does not match the partial DNA fingerprint developed from bona fide Zodiac letters,” he said.

Carroll and inspector Michael Maloney, however, recently found more evidence in the case that may help them create a full DNA profile of the person who killed five people from 1968 to 1969. The Zodiac killer used 21 coded letters to toy with police, similar to what the sniper in the Washington, D.C., suburbs currently is doing.

One of the letters read: “This is Zodiac speaking” and “I am in control of all things.”

Last week, the Washington-area sniper apparently left a tarot card that said “Dear Policeman, I am God” before gunning down one of his 11 victims, nine of which have died.

In the Zodiac case, new technology enabled investigators to use brain tissue taken from Allen’s autopsy in 1992 to compare with the saliva on the letters. They didn’t match.

Allen, a school teacher and child molester, always maintained he wasn’t guilty of the slayings in Napa and Solano counties and in San Francisco. Before he died, he told reporters he passed a 10-hour lie detector test along with being fingerprinted, interrogated and made to give handwriting samples.

LAS VEGAS – Protesters capped a weekend of demonstrations and arrests at the Nevada Test Site and the planned Yucca Mountain radioactive waste dump with a rally in Las Vegas claiming minority communities are disproportionately contaminated by federal nuclear facilities.

Officials said 66 people were arrested or issued summonses Saturday, Sunday and Monday, including some who refused to identify themselves and remained jailed in Beatty until the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada intervened.

“We are coming together from across the world to say no to nuclear energy and nuclear weapons,” Mildred McClain of Citizens for Environmental Justice of Savannah, Ga., said during the Monday rally outside the Grant Sawyer federal building in Las Vegas.

About 24 black, Hispanic and American Indian demonstrators claimed increased rates of cancer, birth defects and skin disorders in minority communities near nuclear facilities in South Carolina, Washington, New Mexico and Nevada and a chemical plant in Mississippi.

In Beatty, eight anti-nuclear demonstrators were released by the Nye County Sheriff’s Department after the ACLU intervened about noon Monday.

Nye County Sheriff Wade Lieseke said law enforcers at the federal test site have long detained protesters who refuse to give their names.

Protests and rallies are common at the gate to the test site, about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

ACLU lawyer Allen Lichtenstein said the arresting officers mistakenly cited a state law requiring suspects to provide their names upon arrest. He said the law has been invalidated by federal courts.

Most of the 66 men and women were issued trespassing summonses at gates to the test site, said Darwin Morgan, spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration in North Las Vegas. He said five were issued summonses for trespassing at the Yucca Mountain Project field office at the test site.

The administration, a branch of the Energy Department, operates the test site, where 928 full-scale nuclear weapons tests were conducted from 1951 to 1992.

PORTLAND, Ore. – A man accused of conspiring to fight U.S. troops in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks pleaded innocent Tuesday.

A federal indictment accuses Ahmed Bilal and five others, including his brother Muhammad Bilal, of conspiring to wage war against U.S. forces in Afghanistan and to provide material support to the Taliban and al-Qaida.

The indictment says three of the suspects never made it to Afghanistan to carry out their plan; it does not say whether the others did. All had ties to Portland.

Five of the suspects, all American Muslims, are in custody in Portland; with Bilal’s plea, all have pleaded innocent. The sixth suspect, Jordanian Habis Abdulla al Saoub, is still at large.

The case is one of two in the country against alleged terrorist cells. The other accuses six people in Lackawanna, N.Y.

SAN DIEGO – The trial of a former toxicologist accused of poisoning her husband began Tuesday with prosecutors using a series of passionate e-mails and a glass drug pipe to illustrate the twin obsessions they claim led her to commit murder: a torrid office affair and an addiction to methamphetamine.

Kristin Rossum, 25, is accused of murdering Greg de Villers, 26, with a drug 100 times more powerful than heroin and sprinkling his body with red rose petals in a faked suicide scene that was reminiscent of her favorite film, “American Beauty.”

Rossum gave her husband the fatal dose of fentanyl on Nov. 6, 2000, after he threatened to reveal her drug use and her affair with her superior at the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office, prosecutor Dan Goldstein said.

“She believed the only way to protect herself was to kill her husband,” Goldstein said.

However, defense lawyer Alex Loebig said Rossum’s drug use has been exaggerated and that her affair was no secret. He contended that de Villers took his own life because he was upset over his unraveling marriage.

“Almost any suicide is a surprise,” Loebig said in his opening statement before a packed courtroom. “Who could have known, outside Kristin, how unhappy he was?”

Rossum will give jurors the inside story of her marriage later in the trial, which is expected to last several weeks.

Prosecutors showed the 12 jurors a series of e-mails retrieved from Rossum’s computer that chronicled the affair with her married boss, Michael Robertson, that consumed her life.

In one message Rossum tells her boss, “When I see you ... I see my future.”

Robertson, who has returned to his native Australia, has not been charged and will not testify, Goldstein said, but will be a key figure in the trial.

The prosecutor painted for jurors a portrait of a defendant who, as a daughter of a former Reagan Justice Department official, was born into a life of wealth and privilege.

“She was affable, affluent, articulate and built to succeed,” Goldstein said. But Rossum also developed a secret addiction to the stimulant methamphetamine, which wreaked havoc on her life even as she tried to conceal it to protect her image.

“Image was everything to her,” Goldstein said.

During Tuesday’s opening statement, Rossum at times became tearful. She intensely scribbled notes to her attorney. When Goldstein told jurors she had used a variety of drugs throughout her life, Rossum held up a note to her attorney that read: “I never used crack ever.”

After she met de Villers in late 1994, Rossum cleaned up her act. They married in 1999 and she landed a job at the medical examiner’s office, which failed to run a background check on her, Goldstein said. Such a check might have shown her history of drug use and a suicide attempt, he said.

The following year Rossum began having a series of romances with her co-workers. None of them were as serious as her romance with Robertson.

“It went from a fling to a motive within months,” Goldstein said.

Goldstein suggested Rossum had carefully staged the crime scene in the couple’s apartment, leaving a shredded love note, a journal filled with lies, and the rose petals — all to mislead authorities.

“She was out of control. She was using dangerous drugs. She was having an affair that had reached an apocalypse,” he said.

Prosecutors contend Rossum stole the fentanyl used to kill de Villers from a locker at her office. But Loebig said it would be illogical for her to have chosen fentanyl because she knew investigators would find the drug in his blood.

Rossum was fired in December 2000 because of her drug use. Robertson also lost his job for failing to report the problem.

Rossum was arrested in June 2001. The special circumstance charge of poisoning made her eligible for the death penalty, but prosecutors said they would instead seek a sentence of life in prison without chance for parole if she is convicted.

Rossum was released on $1.25 million bond in January.

Testimony began Tuesday with prosecutors calling to the stand the first paramedic to arrive at the couple’s apartment after Rossum called 911 to report de Villers was not breathing.

Superior Court Judge John Thompson has issued a gag order, preventing anyone connected to the case from speaking publicly about it. He also has banned cameras from the courtroom.

VOLCANO, Hawaii – Mauna Loa is stirring after an 18-year pause, and an eruption could be devastating to the neighborhoods built on the giant volcano’s slopes in the intervening years, scientists said Monday.

“There has been a substantial amount of development on what has historically been the most hazardous part of Mauna Loa — its southwest rift zone above South Point,” said Peter Cervelli, a research geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Service’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

“Though lava flows can reach Hilo on the eastern side of the island and the Gold Coast resorts of Kona in the west, flows are much more likely to inundate the subdivisions in the southwest rift zone — and possibly without much warning.”

Mauna Loa has erupted 33 times since 1843. In spring 1984, Mauna Loa erupted for three weeks, sending a 16-mile lava flow toward Hilo. Since then, the USGS estimates that more than $2.3 billion has been invested in new construction along Mauna Loa’s slopes.

“In some cases they’re building on lava flows that are less than 100 years old,” Cervelli said.

Scientists from Stanford University recently joined the observatory in monitoring the 13,500-foot volcano, which began to stir on May 12.

Recent geophysical data collected on the surface has revealed that Mauna Loa’s summit caldera has begun to swell and stretch at a rate of 2 to 2 1/2 inches a year, which can be a precursor of an eruption.

“It has not erupted in 18 years but that is an extremely long pause,” Cervelli said. “We’re at a stage where it’s months to years, rather than days to weeks.”

“Mauna Loa is capable of erupting huge volumes of lava in a relatively short period of time, and the flows can reach great distances,” said Paul Segall, a professor of geophysics at Stanford who has worked with USGS volcanologists in Hawaii since 1990. “It presents a more significant safety hazard than Kilauea.”

Scientists are working to detect an eruption as early as possible to give people a chance to evacuate the populated areas.

“Earthquakes will always precede the movement of magma to the surface,” said Cervelli. “In our experience, it’s going to be at least hours.

WASHINGTON – Hikers, mountain climbers, hunters and others who could find themselves lost or hurt will have a new way to call for help: a handheld device that signals the same satellite rescue system that has watched over pilots and boaters for two decades.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which runs the rescue system, plans to announce the new program Wednesday. The “personal locator beacons” will be available to the public starting July 1 and will cost $300 or more.

“We’re going to see a lot of usage among those who spend a lot of time in the outdoors, who go into really remote places where cell phones just don’t work,” said Lt. Daniel Karlson, a NOAA spokesman.

Karlson said outdoor outfitters will sell or rent the beacons. People taking long car trips would be better off with cell phones, he said, but they also could carry beacons in case emergencies occur where phones don’t work.

The beacon sends an electronic SOS to satellites, which relay the distress call through an NOAA control center in Suitland, Md., outside Washington. NOAA then contacts local rescuers.

Australia, Canada, Russia and several European countries already allow broad use of personal beacons.

Use of the beacons in the United States has been limited to planes and ships because the agencies involved weren’t ready to coordinate a nationwide rescue system on land, Karlson said. The few exceptions included personal beacons used by Forest Service rangers and in the escape kits of NASA astronauts.

Last week, the Federal Communications Commission approved the use of personal beacons on land. The agency said the devices will make rescuers’ jobs easier, saving lives, time and money.

A test program in Alaska, which has allowed the use of personal beacons since 1994, has resulted in hundreds of rescues.

“It takes the search out of search and rescue,” said Randy Crosby, who directs rescue teams in Barrow, Alaska’s northernmost city.

In its 20 years of operation, the satellite rescue system has helped save close to 14,000 people worldwide, including about 4,300 in the United States.

One was Mike Ryan, 46, a stunt driver from Los Angeles. In 1985, the small plane he was flying crashed, leaving him with crushed feet and ankles in a remote area of New Mexico.

The crash set off his plane’s beacon, and rescue crews found him 17 hours later. He said it was just in time: “I had enough blood for maybe another hour.”

The satellite rescue system was born in 1972 after a plane carrying two congressmen crashed in a remote part of Alaska. A massive, 39-day search found no trace of House Majority Leader Hale Boggs, D-La., or Rep. Nick Begich, D-Alaska.

Congress responded by requiring every U.S. aircraft to carry a transmitter that would broadcast a homing signal after a crash.

Ultimately, the United States, Canada, France and the Soviet Union created the satellite rescue system. The operation now involves 32 countries with ground stations around the world.

In Alaska last year, 54 people were rescued after using personal beacons. Many rescues in the state involve stranded snowmobilers.

“They’re out in the middle of nowhere,” Karlson said. “They fire off their beacon because they know they’ve got a three-day walk and it’s 35-below out and they’d be dead in three hours.”

A low rate of false alarms in the Alaska program is one reason the service can be extended nationwide, Karlson said.

There are no penalties for accidental false alarms, but people who deliberately misuse the devices can be fined $250,000, imprisoned for six years and made to pay rescue costs, Karlson said.

He said the government works to educate beacon owners so “someone doesn’t go out there and stub their toe and trip this thing off.”

“We want this as a last resort,” he said.

The personal beacons send out two signals, one to alert satellites that can determine a location within a couple of miles and a weaker homing signal to guide rescuers to a precise spot. Some models use global positioning technology to broadcast an even more accurate location.

Each beacon must be registered, to let rescuers know who is in trouble and how to contact friends or relatives. Companies that rent beacons must have their customer information available for authorities.

NEW YORK — So far this season, David Letterman has gotten the prime-time help he asked for from CBS.

Three of the top 15 shows in the Nielsen Media Research rankings last week were weeknight offerings aired at 10 p.m. on CBS — the very time slot Letterman wanted improved when he was negotiating a new contract last spring.

There has been little immediate impact on the ratings battle between Letterman’s “Late Show” and NBC’s “Tonight” show with Jay Leno, however.

Letterman wanted CBS to work on blunting NBC’s advantage in the 10 p.m. time slots. The theory is: If more viewers are watching CBS at that hour, they’d be inclined to stay with CBS through the local news and then Letterman at 11:35 p.m.

CBS’ lone returning strong show in that hour is “Judging Amy,” which had 14.4 million viewers last week.

CBS has established the Monday spinoff, “CSI: Miami,” as a top 10 show, as many analysts anticipated. More unexpected is the strong showing of Thursday’s “Without a Trace,” which drew just under 16 million viewers last week despite competing against “ER” (which had 24.7 million viewers).

With only two weeks of late-night ratings available, both Leno and Letterman are down 12 percent in viewers from last year. Both shows had a ratings boost last fall as more viewers stayed up late after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Rob Burnett, “Late Show” executive producer, said Letterman’s show has seen some strong ratings in big cities on Mondays and Thursdays.

“We still have a ways to go,” Burnett said. “We’re not going to all of a sudden be the No. 1 show, but it’s encouraging.”

But NBC Entertainment President Jeff Zucker said that because there’s been no change at all in the margin between the two late-night hosts, Letterman’s theory doesn’t hold water.

“The fact of the matter is America decided between these two guys long ago,” Zucker said.

In prime time, CBS won the week. “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” with 30.7 million viewers, eclipsed NBC’s “Friends” as the week’s most popular show.

CBS averaged 13.2 million viewers for the week (8.9 rating, 15 share), NBC had 12.4 million (8.3, 14), Fox, helped by the baseball playoffs, took third place with 10.1 million viewers (6.7, 11) and ABC had 10 million (6.4, 10).

A ratings point represents 1,067,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation’s estimated 106.7 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.

Ready to get rid of that old mercury thermometer? You may want to hold off a bit.

On Tuesday, City Council will consider asking staff to organize a thermometer exchange in which mercury thermometer owners can trade in their ancient instrument for a shiny new electronic one.

Despite age-old fears that if a mercury thermometer breaks in your mouth you instantly die, the measure’s sponsor, Councilmember Kriss Worthington is more concerned about what happens when the thermometer is thrown away.

“Mercury is very dangerous,” said Worthington.

Once in a landfill, Worthington said, mercury – a potent toxin that has been shown to cause developmental disorders in babies – can leak into outlying areas contaminating water and soil.

When the mercury is then consumed by humans, which happens most frequently by eating contaminated fish, it can infiltrate a human fetus, said Susan Lee, environmental health associate with the California Public Interest Research Group Charitable Trust (CALPRIG). Lee noted that one in 10 women of childbearing age have dangerous levels of mercury in their bodies.

Fear of mercury exposure has prompted a recent rash of legislative action.

In July, California banned the sale of mercury thermometers without a prescription, and in September the U.S. Senate passed an identical bill. Worthington’s measure would also ban the sale of mercury thermometers even with a prescription.

Worthington acknowledged a thermometer exchange might cost the city thousands at a time when funds are tight, but said the idea has merit.

“There could be thousands [of mercury thermometers] and this gets them out of use,” he said. Worthington envisions a city exchange site where a resident brings a mercury thermometer and a city official disposes it so that there is no danger of a mercury leak.

He noted that the city currently runs similar exchanges for batteries and lead paint.

The effort to close the chapter on mercury thermometers is the easiest battle in the fight against mercury contamination, said Lee. Several household products also contain mercury, including fluorescent lamps and laptop computers.

Lee said that while mercury thermometer makers are primarily located in China and India and have little domestic clout, light bulb and computer makers have so far defeated efforts to reduce mercury use in their products.

Complicating matters, Lee said, is that fluorescent lights are far more energy efficient than standard bulbs, so politicians are hesitant to call for a ban.

I was truly disheartened to read in the Daily Planet (Oct. 11) that the Planning Commission may be convinced to lift the three-year old moratorium on new fast food restaurants in downtown Berkeley. This is outrageous. Not only should fast food continue to be banned in downtown Berkeley, the moratorium should be extended to all city limits.

In addition, we read articles every day about the obesity of Americans. It is my opinion that persons from the lower economic classes suffer the most from choosing the option of fast food. On the surface, it appears cheaper and more accessible than non-processed and home-cooked meals. In the end, health is impaired and physical, mental and economic costs are higher for persons who succumb to the fast food diet habits.

Berkeley must not sell out to those merchants who recommend lifting the ban on the basis of economics. Public health and welfare should be a much higher priority than profits, and the citizens of Berkeley should demand and support the local and very diverse variety of eateries already established in this town. Let’s not succumb to the big box fast food establishments that contribute to poor health, litter and boring food choices.

I strongly urge the Planning Commission to support the continued ban on fast food restaurants in downtown Berkeley and to please consider taking that ban to the city limits.

Writer and bicyclist Tim Holt will give an informal talk based on his new book.

981-6100

Friday, Oct. 18

Storyteller Nancy Schimmel

Poets, singers, musicians and storytellers are invted.

7:30 to 10 p.m.

Fellowship Cafe, 1924 Cedar St.

540-0898

$5 to 10 donation.

Tuesday, Oct. 22

“Sara’s Children; The Destruction of Chmielnik”

7:30 p.m.

Barnes & Noble, 2352 Shattuck Ave.

Journalist Suzan Hagstrom will speak on her nonfiction book, which delves into the Holocaust.

644-3635

“A Language Older Than Words”

7 p.m.

2350 San Pablo Ave. near Dwight Way

An evening with author Derrick Jensen, with music by Andrea Pritchett.

548-2220

$6-$10/ Sliding scale.

Wednesday, Oct. 23

An evening with Simon Winchester

7 p.m.

Sibley Auditorium, Bechtel Engineering Center, UC Berkeley

Join the author of bestsellers “The Map That Changed the World” and “The Professor and the Madman”, along with Don George, global travel editor for Lonely Planet Publications, for an evening of lively conversations.

893-8555

Free

Saturday Nov. 9, 16

Alice Walker and Dorothy Allison appear in support of Boadecia’s Books

Kenny Lofton hit an RBI single with two outs in the ninth inning that sent Bonds to his first World Series as the San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals 2-1 Monday night to win the NL championship series.

Bonds did his part in Game 5, hitting a tying sacrifice fly in the eighth off a determined Matt Morris. And now, in his 17th season, baseball’s biggest star will finally get a chance to play on baseball’s biggest stage.

The first all wild-card World Series will start Saturday night at Anaheim when the Angels take on the Giants.

Bonds, often criticized for being selfish and not interacting with his teammates, led the sprint from the Giants’ dugout to congratulate Lofton. The four-time MVP was the first player off the bench to reach him.

“We played great,” Bonds said. “We’ve got a tough series ahead of us. The Angels have been playing great in the clutch. It’s going to be down to the wire with them.

“We’ve got some gusty guys out here, just like the Angels,” he said. “Who would’ve thought two wild-card teams would make it? That’s just amazing.”

The Cardinals, playing on emotion since the death of Darryl Kile in June, once again could not get a big hit when it counted.

In the ninth, Morris retired the first two batters before David Bell and Shawon Dunston singled.

The University of California, pushing to conclude a year-old contract dispute with 18,000 secretaries, library assistants and childcare workers, has imposed an Oct. 31 deadline on the employees’ union to accept a two-year, 3.5 percent salary increase.

University spokesperson Paul Schwartz declined to discuss the steps UC would take if the clerical workers, represented by the Coalition of University Employees, fail to meet the deadline. But if contract talks linger much longer, he said, the nine-campus UC system might declare an “impasse” in negotiations, sparking possible state intervention in the dispute.

“If contract settlement doesn’t appear to be happening in the very near future, that may be the direction we’re headed,” Schwartz said.

Union officials, who have asked for a 15 percent pay hike over two years, dismiss the Oct. 31 deadline as a “silly, idle threat.”

Margy Wilkinson, chief negotiator for CUE, said the union’s board will formally discuss the university’s offer next week and will likely reject the 3.5 percent increase and issue a counter offer. She declined to speculate on whether the union will reduce its current request for a 15 percent pay hike.

Wilkinson argued that, if the union rejects the 3.5 percent increase, the university would be ill-advised to declare an impasse.

“We really have some bargaining to do and I think it’s irresponsible to go to impasse,” she said.

Wilkinson said the union and university are far apart on wages, but argued that the two sides are close enough on workplace safety and layoff provisions in the contract to justify further negotiations.

Schwartz had no comment on Wilkinson’s argument.

Under California law, if the university declares an “impasse” the state’s Public Employment Relations Board (PERB), which oversees contract negotiations between public employers and their employees, will decide whether there is truly a stalemate.

If PERB agrees that talks have deadlocked, it may assign a state mediator. If the two sides are still unable to reach a resolution, a PERB panel makes a non-binding “finding of fact” and recommends a settlement.

The parties can accept the PERB recommendation, or the university can impose the final contract offer it made before impasse proceedings.

The two sides have been locked in difficult contract negotiations since May 2001, with wages and workplace safety serving as the primary stumbling blocks.

UC Berkeley clerical workers, joined by lecturers and health center nurses, staged a strike in late August. Clericals on four other UC campuses began their own two-day strikes Monday.

The local division of the Coalition of University Employees represents about 2,300 clericals at UC Berkeley and the Oakland offices of the UC president, Richard Atkinson.

May I briefly take exception to Mark Tarses’ letter (Forum, Oct. 11) on Berkeley's coffee debate? He notes correctly that Starbucks’ claim that it purchases organic, shade-grown and Fair Trade certified coffee is misleading, since “those purchases are just a tiny percentage of the total.” Tarses then concludes that “Starbucks would be doing itself a big favor by being more candid about the issue. People don't like the feeling that they are being played for suckers.”

I believe, rather, that some people will welcome Starbucks’ half-truth, since the illusion that Starbucks is “doing the right thing” permits them to avoid taking responsibility for their coffee-consuming actions. Coffee is to Starbucks what oil is to U.S. oil companies, on whose behalf the Bush administration proposes to go to war. In both cases, propaganda – even if we sense that it is deceptive – is found acceptable if it promises to guarantee an uninterrupted supply of a commodity upon which our creature comfort seems to depend.

SAN FRANCISCO – The San Francisco Giants have announced that tickets to possible World Series games between the Giants and Anaheim Angels at Pacific Bell Park will go on sale to the general public on Wednesday morning.

Tickets will be available for purchase only at the Pac Bell Park ticket office, through the Giants Web site, www.sfgiants.com, or by phone at (510) 762-2277. Tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. on Wednesday on a first-come, first-served basis.

Larry Baer, Giants executive vice president and chief operating officer, said there will be 14,000 total tickets for all three World Series games available for sale.

World Series ticket prices range from $60 to $145, with most of the tickets available for sale in the bleacher and view reserved sections.

Fans will be allowed to purchase a maximum total of four World Series tickets.

Fans purchasing tickets in person may pay with cash or Visa, MasterCard or Discover. Those buying tickets via the Internet must pay using a credit card. No personal checks will be accepted.

Approximately 7,000 tickets, 50 percent of the tickets available, will be sold in person through the Pac Bell Park ticket office at Third and King streets. Hundreds of fans have already begun lining up today, Giants officials said. A total of 1,750 wristbands will be distributed to fans in line. A random number lottery system will then be used to determine the order of the line.

The remaining 7,000 tickets will be available for purchase through the Giants Web site or by phone.

If the Giants advance to the World Series, San Francisco would host Games 3 and 4 and, if necessary, Game 5, on Oct. 22, 23 and 24. Fans would be refunded for any unplayed games.

“It’s just absolute nonsense,” said campaign Treasurer Mal Burnstein. “Obviously [Dean] is so desperate she’s stooping to a new low accusing Tom of taking tobacco money.”

Monday’s allegation was the latest in a series of back and forth claims of illegal fund raising between the two campaigns.

The Dean campaign publicized a complaint filed by Berkeley resident Sam Herbert Monday that claims Bates’ financial reports show donations from fund-raising committees of state politicians which were funded in part by questionable corporate contributions. Herbert cited eight donations totaling $1,700 that she said violate Berkeley laws prohibiting the acceptance of campaign money from corporations.

“It’s a straight-up violation,” Schwartz said. He explained that because campaign committee funds come from a number of donors, it is impossible to make sure that specific donations to Bates don’t come from a corporate contributor.

Among the allegations, Schwartz notes that on June 5, 2002 logging company Sierra Pacific Industries, of Redding, Calif., gave $3,000 to the campaign committee of state Senator Wesley Chesbro of Humboldt County who, on Aug. 24, wrote Bates a $250 check from the same account.

Had Chesbro written Bates a check from a personal account instead of from the campaign committee account, the donation would have been legal, Schwartz said.

But Burnstein, who has worked on several Berkeley mayoral campaigns, said the Dean campaign has misinterpreted the law.

“They’re wrong. All that has to happen is that [the contributor] has to say that the money [from a campaign committee] has come from a legal source, and they have,” Burnstein said.

He noted that campaign committees such as Chesbro’s also receive private donations which can be legally transferred into a donation for Bates.

As long as the contributor assures a Berkeley candidate that the donation is from a non-corporate source, the donation is legal, Burnstein said.

Burnstein also refuted a claim filed by Berkeley resident Marie Bowman Friday claiming that Bates’ reports show he had received four illegal contributions of $500. Berkeley campaign law sets donation limits at $250.

According to Burnstein, the $500 listed under the spreadsheet column “Per Election To Date” was the result of a computer glitch. He said the spreadsheet program erroneously added the totals of the two preceding columns into the “Per Election To Date Column,” giving the incorrect total.

“None of those people gave more than $250,” Burnstein assured.

Both Bowman and Herbert said they were motivated to file their claims in response to charges filed by Burnstein last month claiming Dean misclassified about $3,000 of campaign contributions as office expenses.

“The Bates attack on Dean irritated me personally,” said Herbert. “It made me wonder if Bates was as squeaky clean by contrast.”

In a separate charge against Dean, Berkeley resident Carrie Olson said that Dean had accepted between $550 and $700 of illegal campaign contributions from her 1998 campaign.

The Fair Campaign Practices Commission ruled that Dean was in “probable violation” of the law, but Dean said that she was acting on the advice of the city attorney.

The campaign commission is scheduled to hear Bowman’s complaint at a session this Thursday. Because city offices were closed Monday for Indigenous People’s Day the commission has yet to set a date to hear Herbert’s complaint.

“Recent immigrant” Beatriz Batungbakal says that it is “unforgivable” that we Americans are so “careless” in mispronouncing the names of certain Middle Eastern countries, and that we may indeed be “hurting their feelings” (Forum, Sept. 30).

My parents emigrated to this country after World War II for more opportunities and a better life. They learned English, the language of their adopted country, started a small business and were very grateful to be here.

Immigrants continue to arrive for the same reasons but many now come with an attitude that they are owed something somehow. Many don’t wish to learn English. Hospitals are financially obligated to provide 24-hour translation services to serve any languages that come through their doors. Just take a trip to the department of motor vehicles to note that learner manuals come in almost every language on earth.

The St. Louis Rams quarterback was making his first NFL start because of injuries to two-time NFL MVP Kurt Warner and backup Jamie Martin. What’s more, he was facing the NFL’s lone unbeaten team in the Oakland Raiders.

Well, the Raiders are unbeaten no longer. They lost 28-13 to St. Louis, which won for the first time this season after five straight defeats.

Bulger threw for 186 yards and three touchdowns, ran for another score and made no turnovers. His play complemented that of Marshall Faulk, who rushed for a season-high 158 yards against the defending NFC champions.

“I want to keep things in perspective — we are still 1-5,” Bulger said.

Bulger, a sixth-round draft choice out of West Virginia in 2000, completed 14 of 21 passes in his NFL debut.

“I may not be the strongest arm in the world, but I have enough juice to get it there,” Bulger said.

His first passes on the Rams’ opening series went 17 yards to Isaac Bruce and 50 to Torry Holt before his 7-yard TD toss to Bruce for a lead St. Louis never relinquished.

“The guy is an amazing player,” said Warner, who is out with a broken finger. “I said it Day One, the guy has as much physical ability as anyone I’ve ever seen at the position.

It was a great statement for him today, a big confidence boost for him and the team.

“You can’t say enough about a guy who comes in in such a big game and plays with such poise.”

“We felt coming in here that we had to answer their surge of energy,” Raiders coach Bill Callahan said. “We felt that they were a team that was desperate, that was on the ropes.”

What Oakland got was a Rams team that played as many thought it would before staggering out of the gate.

The Raiders pounced quickly, with Jerry Rice on his 40th birthday catching a 53-yard pass from Rich Gannon on the first play. That drive died at the St. Louis 3, when linebacker Tommy Polley stuffed Zack Crockett on fourth-and-1.

“We wanted to jump on them very quickly to put doubt back in their game,” Callahan said, refusing to second-guess himself on that failed play.

“It just didn’t work out that way.”

Bulger immediately went to work, orchestrating a nine-play, 97-yard drive capped by his TD toss to Bruce.

Rice finished with 133 yards on seven catches.

Gannon threw for 332 yards on 30-of-45 efficiency, falling short of becoming the first NFL player to have at least 350 in four straight games. He connected with Terry Kirby for a 2-yard TD to get the Raiders to 28-13 with 8:05 left.

Callahan said he wasn’t all that surprised by Bulger given that he got the bulk of playing time during preseason and understands the system.

“We thought that with Bulger, they were going to have to lean on Marshall,” Callahan said. “I thought single-handedly, (Faulk) gave them hope and kept them alive.”

A small group of union activists held a teach-in on the UC Berkeley campus Monday, supporting hundreds of lecturers and clerical employees striking at five other UC campuses over wages and job security.

“They supported us during their strike and we’re supporting them,” said Claudette Begin of the Coalition of University Employees, which represents about 18,000 clericals on UC’s nine campuses.

UC Berkeley clericals, lecturers and nurses held a strike in late August when fall classes began on that campus. Strikes at other campuses did not begin until Monday because UC’s eight other campuses are on a quarter, rather than a semester system, and classes only recently began.

About 1,000 lecturers at UC campuses in Santa Cruz, Irvine, Davis, Riverside and Santa Barbara took part in strikes Monday. Clericals joined in at all the campuses except Irvine.

The strikes will continue today and UC Berkeley unions plan to hold a large rally in support of the work stoppages at noon.

Clericals are seeking 15 percent wage increases over the course of two years and improvements in workplace safety while lecturers are seeking greater job security.

“We’re saying, as a policy, it’s really unacceptable to be treating faculty as disposable,” said Michelle Squitieri, UC Berkeley field representative for the University Council-American Federation of Teachers, which represents the lecturers.

University officials said they are working hard to resolve the issues at the bargaining table and accused the unions of engaging in illegal, counter-productive strikes.

“Strikes are not going to serve anyone and they are probably going to frustrate and delay contract settlement,” said university spokesperson Paul Schwartz.

Union officials say there are about 4,000 lecturers systemwide, including those who teach just one class, while the university puts the figure at 2,500.

Darcy Morrison (Forum, Oct. 7) rails against the proponents of “smart growth” because Berkeley is too small a portion of the total region to make “an impact on the housing market regionwide.” This is an argument against personal responsibility. If you apply Morrison’s logic to other endeavors you get conclusions that even Morrison presumably will eschew. Why conserve energy or water? Why recycle or use trash receptacles? Why not lie, steal or worse if you can get away with it?

Any one person’s contribution to these activities makes little difference to their overall level. When enough people waste, litter, lie or worse, it is easy for the individual to get discouraged and feel that their effort and honesty are meaningless. The same holds for land use policies. Berkeley and the other urban areas of the region can make a major difference in land use if they act in concert. But if Berkeley drops out, there is less reason for other cities to act in a responsible manner. If enough cities drop out then we will indeed get the sprawl Morrsion and others are resigned to.

The real discouraging part of this argument is that sprawl isn’t worth it. Elliot Cohen (Forum, Oct. 9) claims that growth in Berkeley will increase auto traffic, but his comparison is relative to no growth anywhere in the area. Unfortunately, until U.S. population stops growing we have to put it somewhere. The data that exists (see “Location Efficiency: Neighborhood and Socio-Economic Characteristics Determine Auto Ownership and Use - ...”, by Holtzclaw et. al. in Transportation Planning and Technology, Vol. 25(1),pp 1-27, March 2002) suggests that directing growth to Berkeley and other urban areas instead of rural areas will result in less overall regional auto ownership and use. It is not clear whether this will also result in less local traffic, but it is very clear that it will result in less traffic regionally, less air pollution, less habitat destruction and fewer traffic accidents and fatalities. Sprawl isn’t just ugly, it’s deadly.

LOS ANGELES — An Orange County man on a Bali surfing trip to celebrate his 41st birthday is missing after a bombing on the resort island, his family and friends said Monday.

Steven Brooks Webster of Huntington Beach traveled to the Indonesian island with two friends. All three were avid surfers.

He and friend Steven Cabler were inside a nightclub Saturday night when a car bomb ripped through the building, killing more than 180 people and injuring hundreds.

Another friend, John Frederick Parodi Jr., left the club just before the blast. He has been trying to locate his friend, but Webster remained unaccounted for Monday.

Parodi has searched hospitals, posted photos of Webster, handed them out to authorities and looked through body bags, said Webster’s best friend, Trent Walker, who has spoken by telephone to Parodi and Cabler.

“He has been unable to locate him, either alive or dead,” Walker said Monday.

Webster’s wife, Mona, said from the couple’s Huntington Beach home that she has contacted a hospital in northern Australia where severely injured victims were airlifted for treatment.

“I’ve been on the phone with those people,” she said. “I’ve been faxing his pictures.”

The three friends had gone out to dinner and then to the Sari Club, a popular surfer hangout, but Parodi left and returned to their hotel, said Walker, 40, of Newport Beach. Cabler was sitting next to Webster at the bar about a half hour later when the bomb exploded and the roof collapsed on them.

Cabler was able to pull himself out of the rubble, but he never saw Webster again, Walker said.

Cabler, 42, of Newport Beach, was treated at a hospital for third-degree burns. He was headed back to California on Monday. Parodi, 42, of Huntington Beach, was scheduled to return home Tuesday.

“Before he leaves he wants to get closure as to whether Steve made it or didn’t,” Walker said.

Webster, who has a 5-year-old son and teenage stepdaughter, also golfs, sails and enjoys deep-sea fishing. He had been on previous surfing trips to Mexico and Fiji, but had never been to Bali, said Stephen Quartararo, who co-owns a Newport Beach environmental consulting firm with Webster.

The friends began thinking about the trip a few years ago.

“When you hit 40 and you have this last big thing on your mind, you want to do it,” he said. “It was a big moment in his life.

They were supposed to leave the island a day and a half after the bomb attack, he Quartararo.

“We’re trying to get all the photos out and make everyone aware in the event that if they see his face, somebody will recognize him,” he said.

SAN RAFAEL — Marin County health officials and community groups soon will be polling residents as part of an effort to learn why the scenic, affluent region north of San Francisco is home to one of the nation’s highest rates of breast cancer.

The Marin Cancer Project has scheduled 3,000 volunteers to travel door-to-door through Novato, Corte Madera and other cities on Nov. 9 to raise awareness of breast cancer’s prevalence there and ask residents for clues as to why rates have climbed.

According to the Northern California Cancer Center in Berkeley, white women living in Marin have a 45 percent greater chance of developing breast cancer than women anywhere else in the country. A study released in July by the center found the rate increased 37 percent from 1990 to 1999 in Marin, but remained flat in the rest of the San Francisco Bay area and California’s other urban counties.

The researchers focused on white, non-Hispanic women because fewer than 10 cases of breast cancer are found each year in Hispanics, blacks or other populations in Marin County, which is 80 percent white.

While residents and researchers alike continue to search for an environmental cause, some scientists believe socio-economic factors contribute to the high rate.

Marin County boasts a per capital income more than 200 percent the U.S. average, 44 percent of its adults hold at least a bachelor’s degree.

The habits linked with such a lifestyle — bearing fewer children, having them later in life or taking estrogen and other hormones to alleviate the onset of menopause — may trigger cancer, researchers say.

Judi Shils, founder of the grassroots Marin County Cancer Project, said the group hopes to talk with 100,000 people and collect at least $1 per person to fund an epidemiology map of cancer incidences based on 20 years of statistics gathered by the cancer center.

“I’m watching so many of my friends getting breast cancer and so many people in our lives getting prostate cancer,” said Shils, a Marin County resident who said she founded the organization because she is tired of so many unanswered questions.

ARCATA — Officials planned a Town Hall meeting Tuesday to see how residents feel about a city proclamation opposing an attack on Iraq.

City Council candidate David Meserve of the Redwood Peace and Justice Center raised the issue with the City Council last week. He told members the Veterans for Peace group will bring a proclamation to the council soon.

The council said it would consider the proclamation, but only after a public hearing and debate.

Berkeley, Santa Cruz and San Francisco have approved similar declarations.

Arcata opposed the 1991 Gulf War and declared itself a sanctuary for draft and war resisters. That move was later rescinded after local criticism that the city didn’t get enough public input before voting.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE — The nation’s missile defense system was successfully tested Monday night as a Minuteman II missile was destroyed in the atmosphere by an interceptor missile.

The test provided a colorful light show for much of California, with the launch of the Minuteman II providing a contrail that people as far north as the San Francisco Bay area and south to Los Angeles reported seeing.

The modified Minuteman II, carrying a mock warhead and an unspecified number of decoys, was launched from this central California base at 7 p.m., sent on a 4,800-mile path toward the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

“This was a test of the interceptor missile designed for use against long-range missiles in the protection of our homeland,” said U.S. Missile Defense Agency Lt. Col. Rick Lehner in Washington, D.C.

At 7:22 p.m., an interceptor missile was launched from the Kwajalein Atoll, and it hit the Minuteman six minutes later.

“It directly collided with the Minuteman,” Lehner said.

It was the seventh such test for the Missile Defense Agency and the fourth consecutive test to be successful, Lehner said. Of the seven tests, five in all have been successful.

MARTINEZ — The Martinez Police Department says a man was placed in custody Monday after he went on an alleged crime spree that included robbing a house, crashing a stolen vehicle into a police car and attempted carjacking.

Police said the California Highway Patrol forwarded them a 911 call at 11:23 a.m. from a man in a residence at 2550 Franklin Canyon Rd. The man said he was being robbed and that the intruder was still inside the building with him.

A Martinez officer arrived at the scene within one minute and spotted the suspect driving away in a stolen Ford pickup truck. Officers attempted to stop the suspect but police said he intentionally crashed the truck into a squad car and headed off on westbound state Highway 4. Nobody was injured in the crash.

After a brief road chase, the suspect drove off McEwen Road and onto a fire trail where he was able to gain access to westbound Interstate Highway 80.

Police said the suspect – who was by this time was being pursued by officers from Martinez, Richmond, the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office and the CHP – drove into Richmond from I-80 and crashed into a carport at an apartment complex on South Hampton Road.

Following the crash, police said the suspect jumped out of the stolen truck and used a pistol in an alleged attempt to carjack a vehicle from a resident in the apartment complex. Police quickly apprehended the suspect and took him into custody.

HALF MOON BAY – An Oregon firefighter who grew a 1,173-pound pumpkin set a new West Coast record at the 29th Annual Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay Monday.

Kirk Mombert, 49, of Harrisonburg, Ore., claimed the grand prize and was paid $5 per pound, for a total of $5,865.

Mombert broke the West Coast record of 1,016 pounds set at the coastal event last year by Steve Daletas of Pleasant Hill, Ore. The world record is held by a New Hampshire resident who this year grew one that weighed 1,337 pounds.

About 500 people came to watch Monday's contest to kick off the Half Moon Bay Art and Pumpkin Festival, which will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. There were 63 entries, with growers hailing from throughout California, Oregon and Washington.

“This was a good year,” event spokesman Tim Beeman said. “We had four pumpkins that weighed over 1,000 pounds.'”

The runner-up was Napa resident Pete Glasier, whose pumpkin tipped the scales at 1,096 pounds. In third place was Jack LaRue of Tenino, Wash., with a 1,036-pound pumpkin.

Ted Krueger won $500 for entering the largest San Mateo County-grown pumpkin, which weighed in at 684 pounds. Guadalupe Haro claimed the award given to largest pumpkin entered by a Coastside resident for growing a 437-pounder in Half Moon Bay. The last time a Half Moon Bay resident won the grand prize was in 1977, when Ray Chiesa entered one weighing 200 pounds, Beeman said.

Only the first-place pumpkin will be on display at the festival this weekend, both in the annual parade and by itself so that visitors can have their pictures taken with it.

“I'm excited to ride in the parade with it Saturday,” said Mombert, who has entered the contest eight times and has won twice before. “I broke my own personal best, so that was great.”

Mombert drove 550 miles Sunday to come to the contest. The bed of his Ford pick-up truck had only two-inches of space left on each side after he loaded the pumpkin with a forklift he had specially delivered from Bend.

The task of hauling the pumpkin to the Bay Area was nothing compared with the work it took to grow a giant pumpkin, though, Mombert says. He said he spent 30-40 hours a week tending to the pumpkin that now measures 38 3/4 inches tall, 58 inches wide, and has walls 9 inches thick.

“I do it just for the love of growing things,” says Mombert, a firefighter with the Eugene Fire Department, who described a two-week period in August when his winning fruit put on about 30 pounds a day.

He says the secret to growing a whale of a gourd is the right seeds, well-maintained soil, lots of manure and calcium, a lot of hard work and attention to detail.

After the festival, Mombert plans to take his prize gourd back to Oregon so a friend can carve it into a jack-o'-lantern that will likely be displayed at a Portland mall for Halloween.

SAN RAFAEL — Officials at the Marine Mammal Center have been reviewing sea lion release guidelines after a couple of the mammals were attacked by sharks minutes after their release.

“It was a hard thing to witness,” said Doreen Moser, assistant director of education at the Marin Headlands center.

Two 3-year-old California sea lions were released near the Farallon Islands on Sept. 29 after being nursed back to health over several months.

A male named Edog was released first, followed by a female named Swissy.

“Usually they will bite and let the animal bleed and come back, but this was over quickly,” Mosar said.

Parents crowd into church to discuss high school melee

SAN FRANCISCO – A large group of parents and community members packed a San Francisco church Monday morning to discuss their reaction to a melee and ensuing police action at nearby Thurgood Marshall High School on Friday.

Police responded to a series of fights on the Silver Terrace campus in midmorning and within an hour or so had evacuated the school and arrested three students and one teacher on an array of charges.

"What happened on Friday and what has been happening?'' asked Kim Shree-Moufas at the front of the gathering of more than 200, before asking members of the media to step outside the Allen AME Church. She said she had invited reporters to attend, but some felt the discussion would flow more freely without a media presence. She offered to make a summary statement and answer questions after the meeting.

Before the announcements got under way, about 40 students made their way to the front of the church with handmade banners bearing slogans such as "Books not Guns,'' "Stop Police Brutality,'' and "Where's (Principal Juliet) Montevirgen?''

A flier being passed out to the largely African-American crowd, which also included Latinos, and Filipino- and Chinese-Americans, asked parents to lobby the school district to replace Montevirgen, who they said made many changes this year as she assumed office at the academically oriented high school.

Giuliani campagins with

Simon in San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO — Republican candidate for governor Bill Simon appeared with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani Monday morning at a San Francisco restaurant as part of Simon's campaign to unseat incumbent Gov. Gray Davis.

"We're going to fight on and win,'' Simon told about 50 cheering supporters at Fior d'Italia in North Beach. "We are right in the issues. Everywhere we go people are pumped up.''

Simon has contended with multiple campaign controversies, the most recent of which involved an unsubstantiated accusation that Davis improperly accepted a campaign donation.

Giuliani, who was escorted by six San Francisco firefighters, criticized reporters by saying, "What I think you're doing is spinning, spinning, spinning.''

Giuliani encouraged people to look beyond the controversies and to examine issues like Simon's proposals on how to turn around the state's economy and how to repair the state's energy sector.

He finally said so Monday morning, badgered into the admission by a talk radio host.

The Republican candidate for governor spent the past week parsing his words carefully, saying he “regretted” wrongly accusing Gov. Gray Davis of illegal fund-raising, but never saying he was sorry.

Simon’s aides insisted Davis owed Simon an apology for distorting his record in attack ads, not the other way around. They said Simon would never apologize to Davis. Maybe he still hasn’t.

He didn’t say Davis’ name, but Simon broke down and did say the “s” word under nagging from KGO-AM host Ronn Owens, who insisted that a wife stood up by her husband on her anniversary wouldn’t accept “regret.”

“To me regret and sorry are the same thing, Ronn,” Simon said.

“Well if they’re the same thing then say I’m sorry,” Owens said.

“I’m sorry,” Simon said, sounding more frustrated than contrite.

“There you go. You apologize to the governor,” Owens said.

“There you go,” Simon said.

Simon last week accused Davis of illegally accepting a campaign check in the state Capitol. A day later he was forced to acknowledge the 1998 photographs he was using as evidence were taken in a Santa Monica home.

SAN FRANCISCO — As dockworkers finished their first weekend back to work, both the union and port operators agreed on one thing: It’s still slow going.

Union officials blame the sluggish pace at the ports on the aftermath of the 10-day lockout, while port operators are keeping an eye out for an intentional slowdown.

Meanwhile, in the interest of both sides, the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, Cal-OSHA, has been monitoring activity on the California ports over the weekend to make sure work is done safely and quickly.

Shipping companies and port terminal operators said that longshoremen’s work was off about 25 percent Friday, and charged that the pace of work at the 29 major Pacific ports continued to be slow Sunday.

“There’s no question that the ports are limping along and we are monitoring the situation and getting information together,” said Steve Sugerman, a spokesman for the Pacific Maritime Association. “We expect we can report back on that (Monday).”

The association has the option of taking its slowdown charges to a federal judge in San Francisco to ask for relief — but the courts are closed until Tuesday.

Union officials blamed the slow pace on a lack of train cars in Seattle and Oakland. A shortage of truck chassis have also kept the ports clogged, said Steve Stallone, a spokesman for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents 10,500 longshoremen.

“You can take the containers off the ships, but you can’t get them out of the ports,” he said.

Also, he said, crowded conditions on the docks have made work very dangerous.

“The problem becomes, where do these containers go?” Stallone said. “They just stack up in the yard. Now we’re piling containers on top of containers. Accidents have already started happening because of the congestion.”

Port operators are more interested in documenting the supposed slowdowns by the union than clearing the docks, Stallone said.

“We’re out there working. We’re out there risking our lives again. But all they can do is run around trying to document what we’re doing wrong,” he said.

To make sure that longshoremen are working quickly and safely Cal-OSHA teams were deployed to Oakland’s port Friday and arrived at ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach on Saturday to monitor work, said Hilary McLean, a spokeswoman for California Gov. Gray Davis. She said the decision was made by the state agency and that although Davis was notified, the directive didn’t come from the governor.

“They want to make sure that safety is maintained while people try to work quickly to catch up on the backlog,” McLean said.

McLean said Saturday it was too early to tell if there are violations.

A federal judge approved President Bush’s request Tuesday to reopen the ports after the lockout, which was costing the U.S. economy $1 billion to $2 billion a day. An agreement was then reached to keep the docks open for 80 days, which ensures retailers will receive their merchandise during the busy Christmas season.

Federal mediator Peter Hurtgen will talk next week with both sides about scheduling the next round of contract negotiations — the lockout came after a meltdown in contract talks. The union said it expected to talk to him starting Wednesday; association President Joseph Miniace said he wouldn’t meet with Hurtgen until next weekend.

Atop Hurtgen’s list will be a thorny issue — how to modernize the West Coast waterfront with new cargo-tracking technology that could cost union jobs. The union says it can accept short-term cuts as long as future technology-related jobs fall under its control.

SAN FRANCISCO — While the battle between Microsoft Corp. and the open-source software movement dominates headlines, another phenomenon is shaping the marketplace — at least for servers used by businesses.

It turns out the dueling approaches to software development are both gaining momentum at the expense of Sun Microsystems Inc. and other companies that customize hardware and develop unique flavors of the Unix operating system.

Hewlett-Packard Co., for one, builds servers based on Unix, open-source Linux and Microsoft Windows, fulfilling the demands of customers who are often passionate about one choice or the other, said Rick Becker, HP’s chief technology officer for software.

HP sees no conflicts in satisfying both camps as customers seek the lower cost and improving capabilities of industry-standard hardware. That spells trouble for makers of custom servers, including Sun and International Business Machines Corp.

“People are leaving proprietary ... systems and moving to industry standards,” Becker said Monday in a presentation to technology writers and editors from The Associated Press.

He was joined by Larry Augustin, chairman of VA Software Corp. and Doug Miller, director of Unix migration strategy in Microsoft’s server products group.

Though the speakers agreed that industry-standard hardware is gaining strength, they disagreed on the merits of proprietary software such as Microsoft Windows over open-source Linux.

In recent months, Microsoft has toned down criticism of open-source software, which is distributed with its programming code attached and often lets customers change it to their needs.

Two years ago, chief executive Steve Ballmer likened it to cancer. Now, the software giant says it wants to ensure that its products play well with Linux and other open-source solutions based on standards.

“When vendors agree to a particular standard, everybody wins,” Miller said. “It doesn’t matter what model you use. If you adhere to standards, it’s possible for everyone to get along very nicely and build a number of solutions that are compatible with each other.”

Recent forecasts from the research firm IDC suggest both Microsoft and Linux can win over the long run.

HP’s Becker said much of the migration to date has been in the area of low-end servers, such as those that power Web sites.

Sun is not standing still. The Palo Alto-based company has begun selling Linux-based machines. IBM also is a major player in the Linux server business.

“They’re trying to stop the bleeding,” Becker said.

Linux is increasingly popular for businesses that have in the past run Sun’s Solaris and IBM’s AIX Unix operating systems. The reason is that Linux is a variant of Unix, with much the same feel and features.

Microsoft’s Windows operating system attracts customers who want an established name in the industry, Miller said.

“In these economic times, customers are taking a long-term view,” he said. “They can’t take risk. They need ... a platform that will be around for a long period of time.”

Becker said Linux also is breaking into the highest-end servers — those that handle financial transactions for Wall Street and manufacturing systems for industries.

SAN DIEGO — Teams of security officers with the U.S. Coast Guard have surveyed a handful of ports nationwide to determine whether they are vulnerable to a terrorist attack, a newspaper reported Monday.

Last month, Coast Guard officers visited harbors in San Diego; Portland, Maine; Corpus Christi, Texas and Boston, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune.

“These ports are vulnerable,” said Coast Guard Capt. Tony Regalbuto, acting director of port security. “We are focusing on prevention. We want to prevent someone from using our ports as a venue for terrorism.”

The results revealed certain security deficiencies, but Regalbuto declined to elaborate, saying details of the report will be confidential.

Regalbuto did say that some of the problems involved deployment of personnel for security purposes.

Others relate to protective devices, including a lack of motion detectors, surveillance cameras and fortified fences.

Security expert Thomas Sanderson said he was not surprised by the Coast Guard’s findings.

Ports are far more accessible for terrorists than airports, he said.

About 17 million containers enter U.S. ports annually, with less than 3 percent of them inspected, said Sanderson, deputy director of the Transnational Threats Initiative, a public policy think tank specializing in defense issues.

To stem the terror threat from container traffic, the federal government is considering dispatching U.S. Customs Service agents.

The agents will check containers at their point of origin, the Union-Tribune reported.

Regalbuto said the Coast Guard will prepare a detailed report on security readiness at the ports within two months.

DENISON, Iowa — Up to 11 badly decomposed bodies, possibly belonging to immigrants who were being smuggled into the country, were found in a Union Pacific rail car parked at a grain elevator outside of town, authorities said Monday.

All the victims boarded the train in Mexico, but their nationality was unconfirmed, said Jerry Heinauer, district director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service for Nebraska and Iowa.

Heinauer said he was told by the Mexican consul that the car left Matamoros, Mexico, in June. It was parked in Oklahoma before heading to Denison, about 60 miles northwest of Omaha, Neb.

Jose Luis Cuevas, Mexican Consul for the Dakotas, Iowa and Nebraska, said railroad officials had given him the impression that the bodies had been in the rail car at least four months.

Cuevas and Heinauer said they didn’t know if the victims were men, women or children.

“We have notified our government and they will advise if they have people whose whereabouts are not known and that might have been heading this way,” Cuevas said.

Workers were opening up a long line of rail cars Monday and noticed bodies inside a covered grain car parked at a grain-handling facility, said Karla Miller, spokeswoman for ADM, a grain processing and food products company based in Decatur, Ill. She said the cars, which had been in storage for several months, were being cleaned and prepared for grain shipments.

“As the workers were opening the cars up, they discovered several badly decomposed bodies,” Miller said. “As soon as the bodies were found, we called the authorities.”

Crawford County Sheriff Tom Hogan said the bodies were left in the rail car, which would be shipped overnight to Des Moines for examination by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and the state medical examiner. He also said it did not appear foul play was involved.

Heinauer said authorities do not yet know whether the occupants were being smuggled but said it fit the pattern of smuggling operations.

“Unfortunately it does happen occasionally that smugglers lead migrants into the United States and then they lock them in cars so that authorities wouldn’t check the cars,” Heinauer said.

SAN FRANCISCO — More than 1,000 lecturers at five University of California campuses picketed Monday instead of teaching their classes as part of a two-day strike they hope will pressure the administration to compromise on contract issues.

The non-tenured lecturers have been working without a contract for more than two years and say it’s time UC begins bargaining in good faith, said Kevin Roddy, president of the University Council-AFT and a lecturer of medieval studies at UC Davis.

“We would like to be recognized as participants in the system,” said Roddy, who’s worked as a lecturer since 1976. “The chief negotiator said lecturers do not have positions, they have classes — which allows them to get rid of us at will. That is prejudicial.”

UC has said it is cash strapped because of the ailing state budget and cannot offer lecturers more. It also feels students are the ones suffering most from the walkouts. UC estimates there are 2,500 lecturers, while the union puts it closer to 4,000 by including those who teach just one class.

“At this point, UC has pretty much done everything it can,” said UC spokesman Paul Schwartz. “The state’s view is that the appropriate place to resolve the differences is at the bargaining table, not on the street corner or at campus plazas.”

Schwartz added that the university system also views the strikes as illegal, but said disciplinary action, if any, would be addressed on an individual basis at each campus.

Lecturers waved signs and marched at campuses in Santa Cruz, Irvine, Davis, Riverside and Santa Barbara. Informational fliers were distributed at Berkeley and San Diego.

The lecturers, who are part time and full time, teach about 30 percent of the system’s undergraduate courses. In addition to more money, they are asking for job security and equal treatment, such as being able to apply for grants and serve as department heads. Lecturers currently are hired on a year-to-year basis for the first six years.

LOS ANGELES — A study of 80 men — 40 who saw combat in Vietnam and their twins who did not — suggests the size of a region of the brain involved in storing memories can predict one’s vulnerability to post-traumatic stress disorder.

Previous studies have found the region, called the hippocampus, is smaller than normal in the brains of veterans who suffer from the disorder, marked by flashbacks and sometimes overwhelming memories of traumatic experiences.

The assumption has been that stress caused the region to shrink in volume.

Now, a study that involved 40 sets of identical twins found the smaller volume is likely inherited and not a consequence of the trauma of combat.It suggests the hippocampus can increase one’s vulnerability to the syndrome’s effects.

“That would probably be the most likely explanation of the results,” said psychologist Mark Gilbertson of the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Manchester, N.H., and co-author of a study appearing Tuesday in the electronic edition of the journal Nature Neuroscience.

The study was sponsored by the Veterans Administration.

Post-traumatic stress disorder has afflicted nearly 31 percent of all Vietnam combat veterans at some time, according to government estimates.

In the new study, about half the 40 combat-veteran patients suffered from chronic, unremitting post-traumatic stress disorder.

The other half had never been affected, nor had any of the 40 stay-at-home twins.

In veterans who were affected, hippocampal volume was 10 percent smaller on average than in those who had never suffered from the syndrome, but who had seen combat.

Twins of the combat veterans who reported problems also had smaller hippocampi, even though they had seen no combat.

Most had served in the armed forces, however, Gilbertson said.

Since identical twins have similar brain structures, the finding suggests those veterans suffering from the disorder had smaller hippocampi before they entered combat.

The volume differences remained significant even when patients who reported childhood sexual or physical abuse were subtracted, further suggesting that a smaller hippocampus size increased vulnerability to the syndrome and was not caused by earlier trauma, Gilbertson said.

Gilbertson cautioned that smaller hippocampus volume did not guarantee a combat veteran would suffer from the syndrome; the severity of the combat experience is still a better predictor of that outcome.

Dr. J. Douglas Bremner of Emory University said it is still possible that environmental stresses caused the smaller volumes, ruling out a purely hereditary effect.

Early environmental stresses were presumably shared by the twins, explaining the similarity in their hippocampus volumes.

GARDEN GROVE — After weeks when nothing seemed to go right on the campaign trail, Bill Simon was finally playing to a friendly crowd: the Rip Roaring Republican Rally.

“The people of California know what’s in my heart, they know I’m a regular guy, they know that I’m married to the greatest girl I ever could have imagined,” Simon told the gathering of mostly older women from an Orange County GOP organization.

“The fact is this,” he continued earnestly. “We’re regular people, with a regular family and kids that say the darndest things. But our hearts are full of love ... for all of California.”

The crowd cheered. Simon grinned in delight. But such approving audiences have been in short supply for the Republican gubernatorial nominee since his upset win in the March GOP primary to face Democratic Gov. Gray Davis in November.

His campaign has stumbled, and neither donors nor the moderate and independent voters who could help him to victory have responded as warmly as the Orange County Federation of Republican Women in early September.

Simon’s younger brother, Peter, said the nominee has found the campaign trail tougher than expected. But Simon said he does not regret trading in his routine of family, faith, charity and business for the harsh spotlight of a run for California’s highest office.

“If I don’t make it, I don’t have any idea what I’m going to do, because having once had the taste of something as exciting as this, I’m not sure that going back to the old way is going to be something that will be interesting and exciting for me,” he said recently during an interview in his Santa Monica campaign office. “It’s a great thrill for me.”

Simon, 51, stepped into politics only recently, after years as an attorney, federal prosecutor and most recently co-chairman of his family’s New Jersey and Los Angeles investment firm, William E. Simon & Sons.

Friends and family members said they were surprised — some said shocked — when he decided to run for governor of the nation’s most populous state, his home since 1990.

Simon’s late father, William E. Simon Sr., was U.S. Treasury secretary under presidents Nixon and Ford. But friends said Simon never betrayed political ambition or even an interest in politics. As a youth, he wanted to be a doctor.

“I’d almost say apolitical. I never heard a word” about politics from Simon, said John Newman, a friend from Simon’s high school days in New Jersey who’s remained close to the candidate.

Simon grew up in suburban Summit, N.J., in the shadow of his forceful and mercurial father, who made millions as a leveraged buyout pioneer after he left government. When Simon Sr. died in June 2000, he left a fortune that had been estimated two years earlier at $350 million.

Simon was the oldest of seven siblings who lived a Norman Rockwell childhood. Their father took the train to Manhattan each morning while mom stayed home with the brood. There were family dinners and church on Sundays. Neighborhood kids crowded into the family home on Prospect Hill Avenue.

“Plain vanilla,” Simon calls it, but he never left it behind. With his exclamations of “golly” and “gee whiz!” he sometimes seems to inhabit the 1950s still.

Simon’s sister, Mary Streep, said their father had a standing offer for the siblings: Get to age 21 without smoking or drinking, and he’d give you $1,000.

“Billy was the only one who made it,” she said.

The dutiful son has become a dutiful campaigner, carrying around stacks of legal pads with careful notes on everything from the state’s water problems to a debate involving then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush that he watched on tape and wants to learn from.

Simon has convened 16 task forces focused on various issues and regularly rolls out plans on education, transportation, housing and other topics. They’re ambitious, but the details sometimes remain vague.

The nominee never released a plan to address the state’s $23.6 billion budget deficit, contending that was the governor’s job, not his.

A turning point in Simon’s life was his divorce from his first wife in 1984, after a five-year marriage. Devastating for an observant Catholic, the divorce also pushed him outward, and he got involved with Covenant House, an organization that helps homeless children. Charitable work would come to play a major role in his life.

SACRAMENTO — With high-tech art and music studios, ballet and tap dance classes and a theater, the Natomas Performing and Fine Arts Academy in Sacramento looks more like a private university than a public school.

Natomas charter school director Ting Sun said the school was created as a “way for community members to bring new life into the educational system.”

Nearly a decade after California passed one of the nation’s first charter school laws, Natomas — one of the original charter schools — will participate in a first-of-its-kind accreditation program that joins the state’s largest charter school advocacy group and a major regional agency.

Many school officials hope the new accreditation program will counter the bad image created by a few charter schools.

“I hope it validates a lot of what charter schools are doing,” said Rick Piercy, chair of the charter school network’s accountability committee. “It never hurts to raise the bar.”

The program partners the California Network of Educational Charters and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, one of six major regional accreditation agencies in the country.

Charter schools are public schools run by private organizations, such as parent and teacher groups or nonprofit organizations. In exchange for promises of increased accountability, the schools are allowed to bypass many of the regulations that govern other public schools.

However, a recent string of problems with a handful of charters has prompted a new law requiring the publicly funded schools to follow extra financial requirements and obtain additional charters when opening far-flung satellite campuses.

“The charter school movement has changed quite a bit since it started,” said Sun. “Unfortunately, because of some abuses, it has become more difficult for the mom-and-pop charters to start up.”

The program will require schools to pass through financial and curriculum assessments. Schools that don’t pass will be denied membership into the California Network of Educational Charters, which represents about 70 percent of the state’s 436 charter schools.

PHILADELPHIA— Dom Spatano, who runs a deli in the Reading Terminal Market downtown, said Monday he has changed what he puts in his kids’ lunchboxes because of the biggest meat recall in U.S. history.

“I stayed away from the turkey,” Spatano said of a weekend trip to the grocery store.

Pilgrim’s Pride voluntary recalled 27.4 million pounds of sliced deli poultry Sunday over concerns about possible listeria contamination. The parent of Wampler Foods announced its decision after a strain of the potentially fatal bacteria was found at a Wampler plant in suburban Philadelphia.

The nationwide recall covers meat processed at the Franconia plant from May 1 through Oct. 11. The plant, which has about 800 employees, was expected to be closed for at least several days for cleaning and tests.

Earlier this year, a listeria outbreak in eight Northeast states killed at least 20 people and caused 120 illnesses. Tests thus far have not linked the strain at the plant to the one that caused the outbreak.

Much of the meat involved in the recall already has been eaten, officials said.

Outside a stand in the terminal Monday, Jerry Hahn, a snow-shovel salesman, bit into a turkey sandwich with bravado. He said he had been assured the stand roasted its own turkey.

“So I’m taking their word for it,” said Hahn, 55, of Monticello, Iowa. “But I’m also the type of guy that would have flown on Sept. 12.”

The recall covers deli meat primarily sold under the Wampler brand, though it is also sold under Block & Barrel, Bonos, Golden Acre, Reliance and a variety of private labels. The products include poultry sold freshly sliced or made into sandwiches at deli counters, and sliced meat sold in individual packages.

“It’s all about ready-to-eat product. It just happens to be that sliced deli turkey meat is a product that a lot of people eat,” said Steve Cohen of the USDA.

Consumers were urged by the company to return any affected meat to the store or deli where it was purchased for a full refund. Because consumers might not have access to the meat’s original packaging, the best way to know if a product falls under the recall is to ask if it comes from a package that bears the plant number P-1351 inside the USDA mark of inspection.

Listeria can cause high fever, severe headache, neck stiffness and nausea, according to the USDA. It can be fatal in young children, the elderly and people with weak immune systems.

PHILADELPHIA— Dom Spatano, who runs a deli in the Reading Terminal Market downtown, said Monday he has changed what he puts in his kids’ lunchboxes because of the biggest meat recall in U.S. history.

“I stayed away from the turkey,” Spatano said of a weekend trip to the grocery store.

Pilgrim’s Pride voluntary recalled 27.4 million pounds of sliced deli poultry Sunday over concerns about possible listeria contamination. The parent of Wampler Foods announced its decision after a strain of the potentially fatal bacteria was found at a Wampler plant in suburban Philadelphia.

The nationwide recall covers meat processed at the Franconia plant from May 1 through Oct. 11. The plant, which has about 800 employees, was expected to be closed for at least several days for cleaning and tests.

Earlier this year, a listeria outbreak in eight Northeast states killed at least 20 people and caused 120 illnesses. Tests thus far have not linked the strain at the plant to the one that caused the outbreak.

Much of the meat involved in the recall already has been eaten, officials said.

Outside a stand in the terminal Monday, Jerry Hahn, a snow-shovel salesman, bit into a turkey sandwich with bravado. He said he had been assured the stand roasted its own turkey.

“So I’m taking their word for it,” said Hahn, 55, of Monticello, Iowa. “But I’m also the type of guy that would have flown on Sept. 12.”

The recall covers deli meat primarily sold under the Wampler brand, though it is also sold under Block & Barrel, Bonos, Golden Acre, Reliance and a variety of private labels. The products include poultry sold freshly sliced or made into sandwiches at deli counters, and sliced meat sold in individual packages.

“It’s all about ready-to-eat product. It just happens to be that sliced deli turkey meat is a product that a lot of people eat,” said Steve Cohen of the USDA.

Consumers were urged by the company to return any affected meat to the store or deli where it was purchased for a full refund. Because consumers might not have access to the meat’s original packaging, the best way to know if a product falls under the recall is to ask if it comes from a package that bears the plant number P-1351 inside the USDA mark of inspection.

Listeria can cause high fever, severe headache, neck stiffness and nausea, according to the USDA. It can be fatal in young children, the elderly and people with weak immune systems.

LOS ANGELES — Anthony LaPaglia hit an artistic high with the 2001 film “Lantana,” in which he created a striking portrait of a police detective in full-blown midlife crisis.

It was such a fulfilling experience that the hardworking LaPaglia, at 42, toyed with the idea of giving up acting. He was lured back after a year off, however, by the CBS missing-persons drama “Without a Trace.”

If that makes him sound like a dilettante retiree, forget it. He’s so candid in assessing why few projects equal “Lantana” — or even try — that a listener fully believes LaPaglia would walk away from his craft.

“Sometimes I really get the chance to do something juicy and rise to the challenge. But, to be perfectly honest, by and large most stuff being made today has no substance whatsoever,” he said.

“Lantana,” one of the recent rare films that assumed moviegoers might be older than 25 and willing to invest time in the complex emotional lives of grown-up characters, became a benchmark for LaPaglia.

Opinion

Editorials

BERKELEY – Officials with the University of California, Berkeley are reported Saturday that the school’s ROTC, or Reserved Office Training Corps, programs have seen a surge in enrollment this year.

About 35 freshmen are currently enrolled in the Navy program – a 75 percent increase from last year, the university reported. Last year’s Army ROTC program had eight freshman. Twelve are enrolled this fall, bringing the Army’s total up to 48. The Air Force program has seen its total enrollment jump from 45 students last year to 62 this year.

The Marine Corps Program, which operates with the Navy’s under NROTC, has five freshmen this year and that's “an extraordinary leap, considering that last year we had three people in the whole program,” says Marine Corps Lt. Col. Michael Broihier.

What’s more, UC Berkeley officials say, is that many of the new recruits don’t exactly fit the stereotype of an ROTC student. Sophomore Anna Elzeftawy, for example, sports a stud in her nose. The mechanical engineering major has a goal to reach by joining the military program.

“I want to fly and eventually be an astronaut,” she said.

Both university and ROTC officials chalk up the spike in enrollment to the dwindling economy, since the military often helps pay for enlistees’ educations.

“With the bad economy, families are finding themselves with less money for college,” said Capt. Lee Rosenberg, commanding officer of the NROTC and UC Berkeley’s military affairs program director.

Another reason is the increase in patriotism since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

“September 11 was very frightening for people and many of them wanted to do something,” Rosenberg said.

Some might find it surprising that the military program is so popular at a campus best known for its activism and anti-war protests, but that doesn't bother the ROTC members.

“It’s not about who's patriotic and who’s not,” said Mike Seltzer, a former AFROTC student who graduated from Cal in May. “I think Berkeley's very patriotic in the original sense of the word... true patriotism is to voice your opinion and question things, not blindly follow your leaders.”

This holiday season, nearly a thousand of Berkeley’s neediest families will find a check in the mail.

The gift is courtesy of the Berkeley Holiday Fund, which after 90 years of giving has mastered the art of streamlined charity.

Instead of hiring solicitors, or conducting fundraising drives, next month a handful of volunteers will mail donation requests to Berkeley residents. The money received will then be allocated to deserving recipients selected by 24 Berkeley nonprofit charities.

In all about $40,000 will be donated in checks totaling between $25 and $125 per family, based on need.

The city picks up postage charges for the checks, and Union Bank of California cashes them for recipients without a bank account. Thus, except for the cost of making and mailing the request letter, the fund has no expenses.

“We try to keep it as simple as possible so people know the money they give us will go directly to people they want it to go to,” said co-chairman Andrew Williams

While a check has never been considered the warmest of holiday gifts, fund organizers say it is the most dignified form of charity.

“A check is a symbol of respect,” said co-chairman Linda Williams. “Just because someone doesn’t have money doesn’t mean he doesn’t have the right to make a choice about what to buy.”

“People light up when they get the check,” he said. “It gives them a freedom of choice.”

Williams will get to select between 10 and 15 participants from his charity to receive the gifts. He said he could easily pick 100, but that it isn’t difficult to decide which people are the most in need.

“It’s usually pretty clear who needs the gift the most,” he said.

Throughout the process, fund volunteers remain anonymous. Because all gifts are mailed, the volunteers never get a chance to meet the people they are helping.

All they know about the recipients is a brief description on a request card filled out by the sponsoring nonprofit.

From the descriptions, volunteers note that many donations go to grandparents who are raising grandchildren and single mothers who are attending school. Last year’s recipients included an Afghan refugee family with four children.

The pool of donors are just as diverse, said Linda Williams. “Our donors come from all over Berkeley,” she said. “A lot of people who don’t have a lot themselves choose to help.”

Anyone interested in giving to the Berkeley Holiday Fund can mail a check to PO Box 9779 Berkeley, CA 94709.

WASHINGTON – New al-Qaida strikes may be imminent on U.S. soil or overseas, CIA Director George J. Tenet warned Thursday as he defended his agency’s counterterrorism efforts to lawmakers.

“You must make the assumption that al-Qaida is in an execution phase and intends to strike us both here and overseas,” Tenet said, noting recent attacks in Kuwait, Indonesia and off Yemen. “That’s unambiguous as far as I’m concerned.”

Tenet’s comments came during an extraordinary session as he joined FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III and National Security Agency chief Lt. Gen. Michael Hayden to answer sharp questions from the House and Senate intelligence committees, in the culmination of five weeks of public hearings on missed warnings of the Sept. 11 attacks.

The hearing also led to new revelations regarding al-Qaida’s planning for the Sept. 11 attacks. In a written report declassified Thursday, Tenet suggests that Osama bin Laden himself may have suggested the hijackers use large planes to strike the World Trade Center.

He also said al-Qaida will try to attack again.

“Based on what we have learned about the 11 September, an attempt to conduct another attack on U.S. soil is certain,” he said.

Tenet said he was meeting later Thursday with Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge. He said Ridge has already taken defensive measures “in specific areas where the intelligence was most credible and in sectors where we’re most worried about.” He didn’t identify them.

But he said the current situation is comparable with what existed in the United States in the summer before the Sept. 11 attacks.

“You must make the analytical judgment that the possibility exists that people are planning to attack you inside the United States multiple simultaneous attacks. We are the enemy, we’re the people they want to hurt inside this country,” he said.

The nationwide alert level remains code yellow “significant risk of terrorist attacks” because officials do not have specific details on where and when an attack may occur, Homeland Security spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. Yellow is the third-highest of five threat levels.

Animated and sometimes annoyed, Tenet offered his most detailed public accounting to date of what the CIA did to stop bin Laden’s terrorist network before the Sept. 11 attacks. He said his agency has saved thousands of lives by successfully stopping terrorist attacks. But he also admitted some mistakes were made before Sept. 11.

Tenet said the CIA was convinced months before the Sept. 11 hijackings that Osama bin Laden was plotting to kill large numbers of Americans, but the intelligence available was “maddeningly short” of details that could have prevented the attack.

“The most ominous reporting hinting at something large was also the most vague,” he said.

In weeks of hearings, the CIA and FBI have been criticized for not making fighting terrorism a high enough priority before the attacks and for failing to share information that might have led to the terrorist plot.

Tenet struck a defiant tone from the outset. Asked to limit his remarks to 10 minutes, he spoke for 50. When Sen. Bob Graham, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, urged him to abbreviate his remarks, Tenet refused.

“I just have to say I’ve been waiting a year,” he said.

Tenet highlighted agency successes, many of them long secret, including the thwarting of planned attacks in Yemen, Jordan and elsewhere in the Middle East.

Regarding criticism that the CIA should have given more warning that terrorists intended to use planes as weapons, Tenet said in seven years the agency received, and passed on, all 12 reports of such terrorist planning, even those from dubious sources. In comparison, counterterrorism officials received 20 times as many reports of potential car bombings, he said.

Tenet also said the CIA lost 18 percent of its budget and 16 percent of its personnel in the post-Cold War cutbacks. Training new intelligence officers to replace them will take time, he said.

But even before he spoke, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Whip, said “it’s not enough to say we didn’t have enough money or enough people. No one does. That’s always the case. It’s about establishing priorities.”

Tenet clashed with the committees in an area where he admitted mistakes: the CIA’s failure to put two future Sept. 11 hijackers on watch lists preventing their entry into the United States after they were first associated with al-Qaida, in early 2000. They weren’t placed on the lists until a few weeks before the attacks.

Tenet said the CIA had alerted the FBI in January 2000 that one of the hijackers, Khalid al-Mihdhar, had a U.S. visa; the inquiry staff director said no evidence has been found showing the FBI was told about the visa.

BAGRAM, Afghanistan — U.S. troops are giving confiscated weapons and ammunition to warlords in Afghanistan, a practice that critics say strengthens private militias and undermines attempts to establish a national army.

The national army was envisioned as a key to the stability of the fledgling government of President Hamid Karzai, which is under threat from powerful local warlords and wields little influence outside the capital, Kabul. But many of those same warlords are crucial to helping America fight the war on terror.

“If you have forces that are in contact with the enemy, or subject to being in contact with the enemy, they need to have adequate weapons,” Col. Roger King, the spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said this week. He added that many of the warlords are nominally aligned with the central government anyway, though not formally part of the fledgling army.

Every week, U.S. troops combing eastern Afghanistan find huge weapons caches. On Friday, the military uncovered an arsenal in a warehouse in Khost and filled 35 trucks with everything from 120mm rockets to anti-tank guns.

Militia fighters traveling with U.S. troops got first crack at seized weapons and ammunition, followed by other nearby forces, King said.

“If there’s something left after that that’s in good condition, then that comes back to the Afghan national army,” he said. Much of the ammunition is in bad condition, he said, and is destroyed by U.S. troops.

King said he did not know how many weapons had been given to the militias and how many to the national army.

BISMARCK, N.D. — Duck hunters in two boats died in separate accidents after their vessels capsized or sank in choppy North Dakota lakes. Three bodies were recovered by Tuesday as divers continued searching for a fourth man.

“This is not real common. It’s sad,” said Jim Carter, the hunter education coordinator for the state Game and Fish Department.

The men were reported missing after they failed to return from a hunting trip Monday afternoon, but it was not clear when they were last seen, Lang said.

In north central North Dakota, searchers on Monday recovered the body of George Freidinger, 70, of Mount Vernon, Ill., in Devils Lake, after his boat capsized earlier that day. Authorities were still searching Tuesday for an Iowa man who had been hunting with Freidinger, Benson County Sheriff Ned Mitzel said.

“Everyone is edgy,” said Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose, who is heading the investigation. “People are hearing things that may normally be overlooked.”

President Bush said the “cold-blooded” attacks have made him sick to his stomach. “I weep for those who have lost their loved ones,” he said. “The idea of moms taking their kids to school and sheltering them from a potential sniper attack is not the America that I know.”

Four police squad cars rushed to a Silver Spring car dealership Monday after the window of a customer’s BMW shattered when he closed the door. The man dialed 911, thinking a bullet broke the glass.

“He had no idea what happened — he was just freaked out,” said David Earhardt, the dealership’s service manager.

“People hear a noise, they’re going to call — they want to put an end to this just like we do,” said Prince William County, Va., Detective Dennis Mangan, whose department brought in a helicopter to search the woods before determining a reported gunshot was just a car backfiring.

Authorities in Baltimore, meanwhile, seized a white van and found an assault rifle, sniper manual and ammunition similar to the .223 bullets used in attacks that have killed eight people and wounded two others, WBAL-TV reported.

The van’s owner was being questioned by police Monday night.

“At this time, the task force believes this is not related to our sniper incidents,” said Louise Marthens, a Montgomery County police spokeswoman.

Also, FOX News Channel showed video of police in Washington, D.C., towing an abandoned white box truck from near the Sousa Bridge. The truck had a rear fender dent similar to one in a composite image that a task force investigating the shootings released Saturday. It also appeared to have a fresh coat of paint, FOX said.

“There is nothing at this time to indicate it had anything to do with anything,” said a Washington police spokesman, Sgt. Joe Gentile.

Monday marked the sniper’s longest break — two days and counting — since the killing spree began on Oct. 2. The sniper has shot 10 people in all.